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SOBER  THOUGHTS 


ON 


STAPLE  THEMES 

[REVISED  EDITION.'} 
BY 

RICHARD    RANDOLPH, 

AUTHOR  OF  "WINDFALLS,"  ETC 


"  I  simply  state  these  propositions ;  I  am  not  going  to  defend  them.  If  they  cannot  defend 
tnemselves  by  the  light  which  they  throw  on  the  anticipations  and  difficulties  of  the  human 
spirit,  by  the  hint  of  deliverance  which  they  offer  it,  by  the  horrible  dreams  which  thej 
tc-atter,  my  arguments  would  be  worih  nothing." — F.  D.  MAURICE. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
HENRY    LONGSTRETH, 

740    SANSOM    STREET. 
1889. 


Entered  according  to  Act  01  Congress,  in  the  year  1871.  by 

RICHARD  RANDOLPH, 
In  t/is  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


WESTCOTT  &  THOMSUM 
Stereotypers,  Philada. 


TO   FAITHFUL  WORKERS, 

IN  THE  HOPE  THAT,  BENEATH  THE  TISSUE  OF  STUDIED  WORDS 
AND  SENTENCES,  THEY  WILL  FIND  AN  ESSENTIALLY  UN- 
PREMEDITATED  LABOR  OF  LOVE,  WITH  RESULTS 
OF   THOUGHT   WORTHY   OF   CANDID 
CRITICISM  IF  NOT  OF  PRAC 
TICAL  ADOPTION, 

THESE   PAGES   ARE   INSCRIBED. 


SOBER    THOUGHTS. 


"THERE   IS  A  SPIRITUAL   BODY. 

Oh,  give  me  substance !  is  the  cry 
Methinks  I  hear,  or  see  thee  sigh, 
Amused  no  more  by  idle  toys, 
Nor  mocked  with  visionary  joys. 

The  scenes  which  crowd  thy  mind's  area, 
Yield  not  the  coveted  idea 
Of  good  triumphant  o'er  the  grave, 
And  fitting  for  a  soul  to  crave. 

The  senses,  as  the  gates  of  mind, 
The  crumbling  walls  leave  not  behind ; 
And  he  who  loiters  at  the  gate 
Must  share  the  base  partition's  fate. 

Partition-walls  our  bodies  are, 
The  flow  of  Life  Divine  to  bar, 
Except  we  keep  the  sense-gates  clear 
For  passage  of  the  stream  sincere. 

The  dome  above  rests  not  on  them, 
But  on  that  Man  of  Bethlehem, 
Whose  body  is  the  Christian's  meat, 
Whose  soul  sits  on  the  mercy-seat. 

Turn  inward  then  thy  spirit's  eye, 

And  worship  toward  that  inner  sky 

If  thou  wouldst  gather  light  and  strength 

To  range  the  temple's  breadth  and  length! 

The  wonders  of  the  holy  church 
Shall  bountifully  bless  his  search, 
Whose  cares  of  age  or  hopes  of  youth 
Regard  the  Majesty  of  Truth. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PROEM 7 

BROTHERLY  LOVE 9 

THE  PACIFIC  CABLE 22 

THE  CHRISTIAN  PENAL  SYSTEM 23 

INFLUENCE 26 

OUR  CHAOS 27 

FORTUNE 29 

THE  RULE  OF  POVERTY 30 

A  L'EMPEREUR 34 

HOME-LIFE 35 

NATURE 38 

THE  REIGN  OF  PEACE 39 

WISH  AND  WORK 43 

THE  DISEASE  AND  THE  REMEDY 44 

THE  OLD  BELL 46 

PRIMARY  PROBLEMS 47 

THE  RELIGION  OF  LABOR 50 

MIND  AND  MONEY  CONSIDERED  AS  CURRENCIES 51 

THE  AVENUES  OF  WEALTH 61 

THE  SURFEIT  OF  SENTIMENT 62 

ECCENTRICITIES 64 

HEALTHY  ZEST 65 

EQUANIMITY 70 

THE  CRIMINALITY  OF  COVETOUSNESS 71 

INTEREST 73 

CHRISTIAN  OPTIMISM 74 

WELFARE 80 

THE  COURT  OF  FORTUNE 81 

THE  RISK  OF  RANK 84 

THE  RHETORIC  OF  RIDICULE 85 

THE  MISSIONARY 89 

v 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGH 

CUI  BONO? 90 

TRUTH 92 

FUNGUS  AS  A  WORD 93 

MIGHT  vs.  RIGHT 96 

CHRISTIAN  COMMUNISM 97 

POLICY 99 

BIBLIOLATRY  AND  PANTHEISM 100 

THE  LIFE  OF  GRACE 103 

THE  KING  OF  WORDS 105 

MOTIVES 108 

RIVAL  CLUES 109 

COMPARISON in 

FAITH  AS  A  GIFT 112 

FORM 117 

THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL 118 

IMMORTALITY 121 

SINCERITY  AND  SENSIBILITY 122 

SCEPTRES 125 

AFFECTATION  AND  EMULATION , 126 

BUCKRAM 128 

ASSURANCE,  SENTIMENTAL  AND  PRACTICAL 129 

TONE 132 

RULES  OF  RATIONAL  CONVERSATION 133 

LAW I4I 

UNANIMOUS  SUFFRAGE 142 

POLITICS 145 

THE  LAST  HERESY 146 

ONE 149 

THE  REALIZATION  OF  REST 150 

MUSIC : 152 

THE  NEW  YEAR 153 

TIME  AND  ETERNIT\ 156 

AFTER-THOUGHT 157 

TRINITY 159 


SOBER  THOUGHTS. 


PROEM. 

"  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation,  but  be  of  good  cheer :  I  have  overcome  the  world. 
—JOHN  xvi.  33. 

THE  world  hath  served  me  well,  I  wot : 

Not  many  as  dark  a  dawn 
Hath  opened  to  a  brighter  lot, 

As  noon  hath  come  and  gone. 


I  may  not  hide  it :  gentle  friends, 

And  life  than  early  dreams 
More  fair,  and  work  for  cherished  ends, 

Are  food  for  joy,  me-seems. 

But  not  in  boasting  would  I  sing  ! 

My  brother,  who  art  thou, 
That  bendest  to  the  gales  which  fling 

Their  fury  on  thee  now  ? 

I  speak  to  thee.     Imagine  not 

That  thou  art  all  unknown, 
And  thine  a  solitary  lot 

With  hope  of  succor  flown ! 

A  valley  dark  true  souls  must  thread 

On  this  side  of  the  grave  : 
Turn  thou  from  schemes  and  struggles  dead, 

To  Him  who  waits  to  save  ! 


PROEM. 

Then  to  the  bleak  and  gloomy  day 
Shall  summer-light  succeed, 

And  pleasant  prospects  by  the  way, 
And  strength  for  every  need. 

Lo  !  other  men  have  tracked  thy  woe. 

From  fountains  of  the  heart, 
The  blessings  or  the  blastings  flow, 

Which  make  thee  as  thou  art. 


BROTHERLY  LOVE. 


"  Not  for  that  we  have  dominion  over  your  faith,  but  are  helpers  of  your 
joy:  for  by  faith  ye  stand." — 2  COR.  i.  24. 

"  If  there  be  any  other  commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this 
saying,  namely,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." — ROM.  xiii.  9. 

"  Let  us  not  therefore  judge  one  another  any  more ;  but  judge  this  rather, 
that  no  man  put  a  stumbling-block,  or  an  occasion  to  fall,  in  his  brother's 
way." — ROM.  xiv.  13. 

"Let  every  one  of  us  please  his  neighbor  for  his  good  to  edification." — 
ROM.  xv.  2. 

IT  is  doubtless  a  matter  of  the  first  import 
ance  to  the  Christian  inquirer,  that  he 
should  distinguish  between  the  universality  of 
the  offers  of  Divine  Grace  which  are  extended  from  heaven  for 
the  salvation  of  our  naturally  benighted  and  wandering  souls,  and 
the  extent  of  their  efficacy  for  that  great  end,  which  can  of  course 
be  universal  only  so  far  as  their  express  conditions  are  complied 
with.  While  duly  realizing  this  distinction,  he  will  not,  on  the 
one  hand,  hastily  and  slothfully  accept  the  creed  of  those  who 
style  themselves  Universalists  in  religion,  by  rejecting  that 
righteous  fear  which  is  "a  fountain  of  life  to  depart  from  the 
snares  of  death;"  nor  will  he,  on  the  other,  limit  or  under 
value  the  universality  and  magnitude  of  the  mercy  by  which  an 
earnest  of  the  heavenly  inheritance  is  revealed  in  the  earthly 
experience  of  all,  as  a  lure  to  our  lost  home,  and,  if  accepted 
and  followed  in  the  cross  to  our  corrupt  nature,  as  a  support  and 
encouragement  in  the  profitable  work  of  truth  and  righteousness. 
Thus  may  we  be  prepared,  without  sacrificing  the  purity  of  our 
faith,  to  accept  the  doctrine  that  "God  is  the  Saviour  of  all 
men,"  although  "especially  of  those  that  believe ;"  (i  Tim.  iv. 
10)  and  that  He  has  prepared  gifts  "for  the  rebellious  also, 


10  BROTHERLY  LOVE. 

that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  amongst  them."  (Ps.  Ixviii. 
1 8)  The  promises,  that  the  wrath  of  man  shall  praise  God, 
and  that  all  things  shall  work  together  for  the  benefit  of  his 
faithful  servants,  are  also  thus  rendered  credible  as  to  their  pos 
sibility,  and  intelligible  as  to  their  fulfillment ;  since  it  appears 
that  the  error  of  the  transgressor,  so  long  at  least  as  the  treasury 
of  grace  may  not  be  to  him  exhausted,  consists  not  so  much  in 
a  positive  evil  inherent  in  his  outward  act,  as  in  the  simple  vice 
of  will  by  which  he  prefers  a  meaner  blessing  to  a  greater  one 
which  is  equally  awaiting  his  acceptance.  The  works  of  such 
may  thus  evidently  become  undesigned  testimonials  to  the  glory 
of  God,  and  means  of  wholesome  discipline,  if  not  of  present 
consolation  to  their  fellow-men,  even  while  tending,  by  the 
willful  blindness  of  the  doers,  to  their  own  present  or  permanent 
loss.  The  dispensations  of  God  in  his  outward  providence, 
whether  affecting  us  through  the  agency  of  the  righteous  man 
or  of  the  sinner,  are  seen  to  be  alike  consonant  with  the  inward 
manifestations  of  his  grace,  and  to  be,  like  them,  though  in 
varying  degrees,  co-ordinate  influences  in  the  Divine  govern 
ment  of  the  world. 

These  preliminary  suggestions  upon  the  actual  co-operation 
of  an  involuntary  principle  of  beneficence  in  the  human  agents, 
with  that  which  is  voluntary,  or  benevolent  as  well  as  beneficent, 
in  the  relations  and  conduct  of  social  life,  will,  I  hope,  secure 
the  reader  from  being  startled  or  confused  by  the  presumed 
combination  of  them,  which  I  have  adopted  as  the  basis  of 
some  practical  observations  on  the  duties  of  social  intercourse. 

It  is  recorded  of  the  celebrated  Sir  James 

The  lesson  of  Death.      »>-••  ......  ,  c  ,  .      , 

Mackintosh,  that,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure 
from  the  world  of  time,  his  mind  was  remarkably  clothed  with 
awe,  in  contemplating  the  mysterious  realities  which  he  felt  tc 
be  involved  in  his  impending  change.  Quick  to  appreciate  the 
threatening  aspect  of  his  physical  condition,  he  seemed  to  re 
gard  it  as  opening  a  comparatively  fresh  field  for  the  exertion 
of  his  naturally  noble  and  well-practiced  power  of  thought : 


BROTHERLY  LOVE.  II 

but  the  labor  of  intellect  appeared  to  end  only  in  perplexity, 
and  he  confessed,  reverently  and  repeatedly,  that  there  was 
much  connected  with  the  beneficent  career  of  Christ  which  he 
could  not  understand.  The  decisive  crisis  which  was  soon  to 
usher  him,  as  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  from  the  preparatory 
scenes  and  associations  which  he  had  so  largely  adorned  and 
enjoyed,  into  the  realms  of  unfading  glory  and  unfettered  fel 
lowship  upon  which  he  was  doubtless  about  to  enter,  seemed  to 
him  as  a  deep,  if  not  a  dreadful,  gulf,  as  it  must  seem  to  all 
who  do  not  fully  realize  the  power  of  religious  faith  to  emanci 
pate  the  soul  from  the  bondage  of  our  natural  state,  in  all  its 
circumstances  and  consequences.  It  would  seem  that  he  had 
not  thus  learned  the  apostolic  doctrine,  that  the  just  man  must 
live  at  all  times  by  this  very  faith,  so  that  the  appointed  means 
of  salvation,  being  yet  unrecognized  or  not  duly  appreciated, 
could  not  close  up  the  fearful  abyss  in  which  our  sins  and  in 
firmities  must  otherwise  naturally  terminate,  as  tributary  chan 
nels  leading  to  an  ocean  of  darkness.  Intellect  was  baffled,  but 
the  Light  of  Grace  triumphed.  The  resources  of  worldly  pru 
dence,  and  the  fruits  of  mere  morality  or  conventional  culture, 
availed  him  not;  but  the  work  of  the  Mediator,  as  immediately 
revealed  from  heaven,  and  realized  in  his  own  heart  through 
the  obedience  of  faith,  banished  every  doubt.  To  one  who 
said,  "Jesus  Christ  loves  you,"  his  reply  was,  "Jesus  Christ — 
Love — the  same  thing  !  "  Afterward,  on  his  simply  saying,  "  I 
believe,"  and  his  attendant  inquiringly  adding,  "  In  God  ?  "  he 
replied,  "In  Jesus." 

Sir  James  Mackintosh  may  be  said  to  have  been,  especially 
and  pre-eminently,  a  moralist.  His  professional  labors,  his 
literary  pursuits,  and  his  extended  intercourse  with  general  so 
ciety,  testified  in  many  ways  that  he  was  an  almost  lifelong 
student  of  Law,  in  the  broadest  meaning  of  that  term  :  and  such 
a  life,  and  such  a  death,  together  considered,  may  be  offered  as 
a  remarkable  confirmation  of  the  apostolic  testimony  that  "  love, 
is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 
2 


12  BROTHERLY  LOVE. 

Essential      compre-  The  Divine   L°VC'   U    mUSt    be    Confessed,    is 

hensiveness  of  Divine  the  largest  and  highest  theme  which  can  oc 
cupy  the  thoughts  of  man.  Flowing  immedi 
ately  from  the  Creative  Cause  of  every  derivative  good,  it  is 
both  the  vitalizing  power  and  the  crowning  fruit  of  all  true 
knowledge.  It  is  thus  in  itself  both  the  worthy  object  of 
Christian  aspiration,  and  also  the  means  by  which  the  humbly 
believing  and  simply  self-denying  seeker  attains  to  a  participa 
tion  in  the  sublime  mysteries  and  pure  pleasures  of  eternal  truth 
and  spiritual  life.  It  is  self-fulfilling  and  self-preserving,  rescu 
ing  from  the  wreck  of  our  fallen  nature  the  divided  and  scattered, 
and  still  struggling,  members  of  the  first  Adam,  and  binding 
them,  by  the  inspiration  of  the  second  Adam,  into  its  own 
"bundle  of  life."  Here  they  find  that  renewed  self-hood,  in 
which  personal  individuality,  through  the  sacrifice  of  the  will, 
becomes  compatible  with  that  true  fellowship,  whose  roots  are 
within  them,  and  lie  deeper  than  the  facts  and  forms  of  nature. 
The  very  ground  of  emulation  and  contention  is  renounced,  and 
they  become  -the  adopted  children  of  God,  and  brethren  and 
joint  heirs  with  Christ. 


Practical    limitation  L°Ve    is    thuS    tbe    ^^^8   of  the    law,   be- 

of  its  efficacy,  the  cause  it  is  the  fulfilling  of  itself.  As  it  is, 
ground  of  subsidiary  indeed>  an  inseparable  attribute  of  the  Om 
nipotent  and  Omnipresent  Deity,  the  question 
may  seem  naturally  to  arise,  Why  need  any  labor  to  experience 
it,  or  offer  to  expound  it,  since  it  must  be  able  and  willing  to 
manifest  itself?  Omnipotence  is  truly  an  awful  theme,  and  one 
which  must  ever  be  unapproachable  by  man,  in  its  ground  or 
essence,  as  distinguished  from  its  manifestations.  I^aw,  however, 
or  Fate,  as  distinguished  from  freedom,  is  a  subject  which 
especially  demands  the  attention  of  imperfect  beings  who  are 
capable  of  struggling  against  their  imperfections,  inasmuch  as 
it  may  possibly  be  opened  to  their  inquiry  by  the  very  fact  of 
its  having  some  origin  apart  from  the  perfect  will  of  Omnipo- 


BROTHERLY  LOVE.  13 

tence.  The  curse  of  those  who  "came  not  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty"  (Judges,  v. 
23),  is  but  one  of  the  scriptural  evidences  that  even  the  power 
of  Omnipotence  may  not  be,  in  every  sense  of  the  term,  all- 
comprehensive.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  decisively,  that  it 
will  be  all-sufficient  for  our  present  and  everlasting  welfare,  upon 
our  acceptance  of  the  terms  prescribed  for  that  effect.  Its  power 
will  then  indeed  be  "Omnipotence,"  so  far  as  our  experience 
can  extend,  and  an  Omnipotence  which  may  be  all  the  more 
adequately  realized  by  us,  the  more  necessary  our  co-operation 
may  have  been  for  its  manifestation  in  us.  But  that  there  may 
nevertheless  be  some  other  power,  outside  of  any  omnipotence 
which  we  can  assume  to  exist,  which  can,  through  our  own  con 
sent,  influence  us  as  free  agents  to  refuse  good  and  choose  evil, 
is  rendered  sufficiently  possible  to  our  apprehension  by  the 
simple  analogy  of  mathematical  science ;  in  which  we  find  that 
there  may  be  supposed  various  infinite  or  incomprehensible 
quantities,  which,  by  the  mere  circumstance  of  their  being  in 
finite,  must  be  practically  equal  in  our  finite  calculations,  and 
which  yet  in  themselves  shall  be  most  unequal.  Reason,  there 
fore,  no  more  than  experience,  can  clash  with  the  vague  testi 
mony  of  recorded  revelation  and  the  crude  sentiment  of  bygone 
ages,  that  there  is  a  spiritual  or  indestructible  Power  of  evil,  which 
is  infinite  in  itself,  and  yet  essentially  alien  and  inferior  to  the 
God  of  Love.  By  farther  simply  surmising  this  Evil  Power  to 
be  self-existent,  or  co-eternal  with  the  High  and  Holy  One,  who 
is  the  Author  of  the  creation  and  the  supreme  Controller  of  the 
material  universe,  and  thus  capable  of  attracting  to  itself  the 
wayward  will  of  the  immortal  principle  in  man,  we  are  enabled 
to  assign  a  conceivable  origin  and  a  beneficent  operation  to  all 
the  fetters  of  Law,  consistently  with  that  element  of  necessity 
through  which  it  is  experimentally  known  to  us  all,  as  either  our 
ruler  or  our  servant.  We  may  deplore  the  mixture  of  evil 
while  accepting  the  whole  truth  as  we  find  it  filling  our  several 
measures  of  experience  ;  but  if  we  sincerely  prize  our  privileges 
as  beings  who  are  capable  of  looking  beyond  the  limitations  of 


1 4  BROTHERLY  LOVE. 

the  present,*  we  will  not  turn  away  from  the  imperfect  promise 
of  hope  which  is  offered  to  us  in  the  temporary  bondage  of 
Law.  The  law  written  upon  stone  has  long  been  abrogated  in 
favor  of  the  progressive  law  which  is  written  "upon  the  fleshy 
tables  of  the  heart,"  and  which  now  summons  the  world  on 
ward  to  perfection ;  but  this  also  may  be  regarded  as  being,  in 
its  turn,  but  a  law  of  principles,  which  are  to  be  honored  by 
being  successively  abandoned  for  others  which  are  more  com 
prehensive,  until  that  perfect  Life  of  Love  is  revealed,  in  the 
prevalence  of  which  the  dispensation  of  the  Gospel  is  being 
continually  inaugurated,  and  shall  finally  be  fully  established. 
So  far,  therefore,  as  this  Divine  Life  may  fall  short  of  entire 
prevalence,  the  necessity  must  remain  for  a  law  which  may  be 
investigated  and  expounded,  as  the  clearest  attainable  manifes 
tation  of  Love,  and  for  the  exercise  of  that  authority  in  which 
the  earnest  believer  shall  say  to  his  halting  brother,  "  Know  the 
Lord."  It  is  in  the  profound  realization  of  my  own  infirmity 

*  "  My  creed,"  wrote  the  late  Henry  Colman,  "  resolves  itself  into  a  very 
simple  proposition — God  is  wise  and  good.  He  is  as  wise  and  good  as  wise 
and  good  can  be,  and  under  his  government  and  providence  I  feel  a  perfect 
security.  Whatever  appearances  may  present  themselves  to  my  limited 
and  imperfect  observation,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  final  result  will  be  all 

that   the   best   mind  could  desire I  cannot  look  upon  the  human 

being  with  all  the  beautiful  endowments  of  mind  which  pertain  to  him,  and 
all  the  high  moral  attributes  which  so  elevate  his  nature,  ana  all  the  charm 
ing  affections,  sentiments,  and  hopes,  which  seem  to  stamp  him  as  divine ; 
I  cannot  look  upon  such  a  being  advancing  continually  in  intellectual  and 
moral  attainments,  rising  by  self-discipline  above  everything  sensual  and 
worldly,  and  in  the  elevation  and  expansion  of  his  views  and  purposes 
breathing  a  far  purer  atmosphere  than  this  low  world  affords ;  I  cannot,  I 
say,  look  upon  such  a  being  as  destined  only  for  a  region  of  existence  where 
his  advances  are  continually  restricted,  and  where  soon  his  progress  must  be 
arrested,  and  all  his  attainments,  noble  as  they  may  be,  must  come  to  naught, 
and  be  scattered  like  the  gilded  and  burnished  clouds  which  are  scarcely 
seen,  and  their  outlines  hardly  defined,  before  the  wind  sweeps  them  away 
for  ever."  It  would  perhaps  be  hard  to  find  in  so  small  a  compass  a  more 
eloquent  or  a  much  more  accurate  assertion  of  the  triumph  of  freedom  over 
necessity,  through  the  intervention  of  law  or  discipline. 


BROTHERLY  LOVE.  15 

that  I  thus  venture  to  give  utterance,  as  briefly  as  I  may,  to 
some  suggestions'  for  the  consideration  of  any  who  may  find 
them  suggestive,  upon  the  subject  or  law  of  Brotherly  Love. 

So  large  a  part  of  our  life  consists  of  our  Brotherly  Love  the 
social  duties  and  privileges — our  social  affec-  motive  and  sanction 
tions  and  aspirations  indeed  hold  so  predom 
inating  and  engrossing  a  place  even  among  our  natural  wants  as 
rational  beings — that  we  may  safely  speak  of  the  spontaneous 
love  or  regard,  which  the  great  mass  of  mankind  experience  for 
those  of  their  fellows  with  whom  they  can  mingle  and  sympa 
thize  on  the  before  mentioned  ground  of  natural  congeniality 
and  providential  beneficence,  as  the  actual  law  of  their  life. 
As  all  human  conduct  is  liable  to  the  seductions  of  a  lawless 
caprice,  this  natural  love,  being  a  leading  and  comparatively 
permanent  influence,  cannot  lose  its  real  rank  as  a  law  from  the 
circumstance  that  its  operation  may  be  obscured  by  the  confused 
workings  of  a  many-membered  and  short-sighted  selfishness. 
It  may  indeed  be  said  to  originate  in  selfishness,  in  so  far  as  it 
must  originally  impress  our  fallen  nature  through  the  force  of 
selfish  considerations.  It  accordingly  derives  all  its  stability 
and  validity,  such  as  they  are,  from  the  fact  that  there  is  always, 
in  any  community,  a  characteristic  average  of  enlightenment 
as  to  the  means  of  pleasure  or  happiness ;  and  its  operation 
will  be  obscured  or  confused,  not  so  much  by  any  deficiency 
which  may  exist,  or  by  any  deterioration  which  may  occur  in 
this  average  standard  of  action,  as  by  the  greater  or  less  variety 
and  discrepancy  of  the  individual  qualifications  and  dispo 
sitions  which  may  be  thereby  represented  as  the  general  charac 
ter  of  the  community.  It  will  be  chiefly  as  our  law  itself  is 
upon  this  ground,  more  or  less  definite,  that  its  operation  will 
be  more  or  less  uniform. 

The  great  evidence  of  a  Providential  agency 

&          J  Traceable    even    in 

in  the  government  of  the  world  lies  in  the  the  suggestions  of  few, 
fact  that  the  characters  of  men,  whether  singly  as  Divine  Love  is  in 

,  _          ,  °  J        the  revelations  of  fact. 

or  in  the  mass,  are  found  to  be  adapted  to 

2* 


16  BROTHERLY  LOVE. 

their  external  circumstances,  with  which  again  their  duties  and 
their  interests  flow  in  close  and  parallel  connection,  like  the  so- 
called  "induced  currents"  of  electrical  action, — their  duties 
corresponding  with  their  characters,  as  their  interests  do  with 
their  circumstances.  Owing  to  the  assimilating  influence  of 
established  institutions,  consequent  upon  the  comparative  stabil 
ity  of  enlightened  institutions,  the  power  of  the  social  law  thus 
determined  by  the  character  of  a  community,  is  most  apparent 
in  civilized  or  cultivated  life ;  but  is  probably  discoverable  in 
every  condition  of  society,  through  the  veil  of  conflicting  but 
self-limited  violations  and  apparent  exceptions,  and  may  safely 
be  styled  a  natural  "  Law  of  Love,"  although  it  cannot  be  said 
to  imply  the  elevated  brotherly  love  which  flows  from  conscious 
communion  with  the  common  Father,  who  is  the  inexhaustible 
Source  of  love,  but  may,  on  the  contrary,  often  degenerate, 
through  an  unworthy  choice  of  the  objects  of  love,  into  a  Law 
of  Fear. 

Inasmuch,  however,  as  all  love  for  our  fel- 

Perfect  attainability       ,  ,  .         ,..  . 

and  efficacy  of  Broth-  low-beings  as  intelligent  creatures,  is,  in  a  natu- 
eriy  Love  as  an  eie-  ral  and  obvious  sense  of  the  word,  brotherly, 

ri!'ian  ancl  ma>'  even  be  regarded  in  eve]7  case  as 
one  of  the  gifts  of  present  happiness  which 
were  purchased  for  man  by  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  of  our 
adorable  Saviour ;  inasmuch,  also,  as  the  very  communion  of 
the  saints,  which  is  more  worthily  styled  "Brotherly  Love," 
when  weakly  regarded  or  condescendingly  acknowledged  as  an 
object  desirable  in  itself,  or  as  a  mere  means  for  any  finite  or 
worldly  end,  must,  if  not  wholly  lost  in  such  dangerous  eager 
ness  or  connivance,  partake  of  the  imperfection  which  character 
izes  every  attainment  when  known  out  of  its  subordination  to 
the  ever  present  and  all-sustaining  Giver;  it  would  seem  that 
the  phrase  "Brotherly  Love"  may  be  fairly  adopted  as  practi 
cally  synonymous  with  the  natural  "Law  of  Love"  before 
spoken  of,  and  as  representing  a  working  means  or  influence 
which  is  universally  at  hand,  a.nd  strictly  congenial  to  the 


BROTHERLY  LOVE,  if 

natural  imperfections  of  mankind  in  their  probational  estate, 
and  which  still  serves  as  "  a  school-master  "  to  bring  souls  unto 
Christ. 

In  either  view  of  its  development,  there-  Its  pretensions  as  a 
fore,  it  appears  that  Love,  so  far  as  it  may  be  law  of  duty  invite 
embodied  or  exemplified  in  the  facts  and  cir 
cumstances  of  social  intercourse,  brings  along  with  it  an  intel 
ligible  law,  and  becomes  indeed  the  very  fountain  of  law.  So 
far,  therefore,  as  there  is  occasion  for  recognizing  law  in  any 
thing,  there  is  occasion  for  recognizing  a  Law  of  Brotherly  Love. 
In  other  words,  Love,  so  far  as  it  may  ever  be  an  intelligible 
and  practical  principle,  is  by  no  means  an  irresponsible  prin 
ciple  ;  but  its  pretensions  must  always  be  open  to  question  in 
the  Spirit  of  Love,  both  as  to  its  means  and  as  to  its  objects. 
This  doctrine  may  perhaps  appear  to  the  reader  to  be  too  evi 
dent  in  itself  to  require  such  a  detailed  demonstration ;  but  it 
is  fundamentally  important  that  its  truth  should  be  deeply  ap 
preciated,  in  order  that  the  profession  of  love  may  not  become 
a  rule  of  darkness  rather  than  of  light,  as  it  is  in  danger  of 
becoming  where  the  willful  ambiguity  and  reserve  are  indulged 
in,  by  which  love  may  be  confounded  with  dissimulation. 

There  is  therefore  a  Law  or  Rule  of  Love  Test-PrinciPie,  the 
by  which  all  men  who  claim  the  sympathy  of  reasonable  hope  of 
their  fellow-beings  are  responsible  to  one  an-  conferring  pleasure' 
other.  (This  law,  in  its  simplest  and  most  obvious  expression, 
is  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  suppression  of  selfishness  in 
thought,  word  and  deed,  in  our  dealings  with  one  another. 
It  is  the  ceasing  "to  do  evil,"  in  order  that  we  may  "learn  to 
do  well."  In  other  words,  it  is  the  abandoning,  so  far  as 
possible,  of  our  own  transient  interests  and  fallible  opinions, 
in  deference  to  those  of  our  neighbors,  and  in  the  faith  that  all 
interests  and  all  opinions  must  be  alike  temporary  and  illusory, 
which  cannot  be  recognized  as  realities  from  whatever  direction 
they  are  candidly  contemplated.  \It  rarely  indeed,  if  ever, 
occurs,  that  men  are  driven  by  their  mere  physical  necessities 


1 8  BK O THERL T  LOVE. 

to  the  point  of  actual  conflict,  or  are  forced  to  maintain  their 
dissimilar  opinions  in  the  form  of  dogmatic  assertion  or  of  di 
rect  contradiction.  The  encroachments  of  violence  in  either 
mode  may  be  traced  to  the  deficiency,  rather  than  to  the  excess, 
of  that  sure  power  which  attends  an  insight  into  the  opulence 
of  nature  and  the  universality  of  truth.  The  Law  of  Love  thus 
has  room  for  free  play,  both  in  the  prevention  of  open  selfish 
ness  and  in  the  mortification  of  secret  conceit.  To  this  effect 
we  may  interpret  the  testimony  of  the  careful  observer  and 
thinker  already  mentioned  and  quoted,  as  it  occurs  in  his  diary 
at  a  date  of  twenty  years  previous  to  his  decease.  "A  benevo 
lent  man,"  says  he,  "estimates  others  by  the  degree  in  which 
he  can  make  them  happy ;  a  selfish  man,  by  the  degree  in  which 
he  can  make  them  subservient  to  his  own  interest.  To  estimate 
human  beings  merely  or  chiefly  by  their  intrinsic  merits,  and  to 
act  towards  them  on  that  principle,  is  a  proud  pretension,  but 
evidently  inconsistent  with  the  condition  of  human  nature.  It 
would  be  natural  in  mere  spectators,  but  not  in  those  who  are 
themselves  engaged  in  the  race  of  life.  The  evident  effect  of  it 
is,  after  all,  to  cheat  ourselves.  When  we  suppose  that  we  are 
estimating  others  on  principles  of  severe  justice,  we  may  be 
giving  judgment  on  them  under  the  influence  of  dislike,  disgust, 
or  anger."  With  the  exception  that  the  writer  seems  to  ascribe 
our  fallibility  rather  to  the  limitation  of  our  circumstances  than 
to  the  feebleness  of  our  vision,  the  wisdom  embodied  in  these 
remarks  is  perhaps  as  intrinsically  pure  as  it  is  practically  im 
portant.  It  may  be  observed  that  we  are  not  even  told  that  the 
benevolent  man  will  estimate  others  by  the  degree  in  which  he 
may  think  he  can  make  them  better  than  they  are.  This  would 
evidently  involve  the  judgment  which  the  writer  deprecates, 
and  which  the  Gospel  of  Love  never  enjoins,  as  to  the  spiritual 
condition,  in  the  sight  of  God,  of  those  with  whom  we  have 
to  do.  Doubtless,  few  knew  better  than  Sir  James  how  difficult 
it  is  at  all  times,  and  especially  in  extreme  or  sudden  cases,  to 
avoid  impressions  and  to  lay  aside  prepossessions  as  to  the  secrets 
of  individual  character ;  but  he  doubtless  also  understood  that 


BROTHERLY  LOVE.  19 

such  conceptions  are  most  likely  to  be  useful,  if  not  also  to  be 
truthful,  where  they  are  the  spontaneous  growth  of  a  heart 
which  is  animated  by  the  light  of  love,  and  so  influenced  by  them 
unconsciously  rather  than  presumptuously.  At  the  same  time 
probably  no  one  would  more  readily  have  admitted,  that  the  way 
to  make  men  happy  is  not  willfully  to  abet  or  countenance  them 
in  the  pursuit  of  criminal  or  vicious  courses.  Probably  he 
would  have  considered  it  the  part  of  charity  to  take  it  for 
granted  that  they  are  desirous  to  avoid  or  escape  from  such 
courses,  or  that  they  at  least  will  be  (as  few  indeed  will  not) 
when  their  senses  are  fully  aroused  to  see  their  disastrous  ten 
dency,  and  therefore  to  prepare  them  for  such  a  view  as  gently, 
and  as  quickly,  and  even  as  candidly,  as  possible.  Thus,  we 
may  presume,  he  would  have  been  able  to  sympathize  with  that 
stirring  strain  of  a  celebrated  investigator  and  teacher*  of  our 
own  country  and  our  own  age : 

"  Love's  hearts  are  faithful,  but  not  fond ; 
Bound  for  the  just,  but  not  beyond : 
Not  glad,  as  the  low-loving  herd, 
Of  self  in  other  still  preferred; 
But  they  have  heartily  designed 
The  benefit  of  broad  mankind. 
And  they  serve  men  austerely, 
After  their  own  genius,  clearly, 
Without  a  false  humility. 
For  this  is  Love's  nobility — 
Not  to  scatter  bread  and  gold, 
Goods  and  raiment  bought  and  sold ; 
But  to  hold  fast  his  simple  sense, 
And  speak  the  speech  of  innocence, 
And  with  hand,  and  body,  and  blood, 
To  make  his  bosom-counsel  good. 
For  he  that  feeds  men  serveth  few  ; 
He  serves  all  who  dares  be  true." 

.     .  . .    .  External  conflict  and  discord  are  ever  the 

Administration. 

result  and  the  measure  of  internal  confusion. 
*  R.  W.  EMERSON. 


20  BR  O  THERL  T  L  O  VE. 

The  Christian  warfare  is  that  in  which  the  true  believer  struggles 
to  observe  and  to  obey  that  Light  of  Life  revealed  in  his  own 
soul,  by  which,  as  it  is  suffered  to  have  free  course,  all  the  fruits 
of  darkness  are  exposed.  As  this  result  is  realized,  the  delu 
sions  of  selfishness  will  be  scattered  and  banished,  and  he  will 
experience  a  humbling  but  cheering  sense  of  surprise,  on  finding 
how  truly  superficial  and  impotent  to  annoy  is  every  external 
occasion  of  offence,  whether  it  consist  in  the  mere  limitation 
of  physical  necessity,  or  in  the  random  trespass  of  the  passing 
stranger,  or  in  the  systematic  siege  of  the  household  foe,  save 
as  it  may  be  naturally  more  or  less  competent  to  enlist  and  in 
cite  the  lusts  of  his  own  heart  which  war  in  his  own  members. 
Surprise  itself  will  vanish  in  its  turn,  as  he  proceeds  to  observe 
that  selfishness,  wherever  existing,  is  so  contracted  in  its  very 
nature,  that  its  seemingly  most  aggressive  and  most  malicious 
outburst  can  be  nothing  more  than  a  manifestation  of  spiritual 
slothfulness  through  its  readiest  mode  of  expression.  Dis 
covering  that  no  natural  disposition  or  appetite  can  find  vent 
in  a  debasing  gratification,  except  by  the  weak  or  rash  sacrifice 
of  an  ennobling  alternative,  and  having  learned  that  the  human 
will  is  never  truly  acting  save  when  it  is  directing  nature  rather 
than  acquiescing  with  it,  he  may  adopt,  in  a  sense  perhaps 
deeper  and  broader  than  that  in  which  it  was  uttered,  the  dec 
laration  of  the  excellent  Hannah  More,  that  "Idleness,  though 
itself  the  most  unperforming  of  all  the  vices,  is  the  pass 
through  which  they  all  enter,  the  stage  upon  which  they  all  act. ' ' 

Consummation.  l  wil1  conclude  this  rambling  labor  of  ci 

tation  and  comment,  by  briefly  remarking  upon 
another  fragment  of  the  dying  testimony  of  the  British  moralist 
and  statesman,  as  to  the  value  of  the  "  royal  law"  *  of  Brotherly 
Love.  "  There  is  nothing,"  said  he,  "  so  right  in  the  world  as 
to  cultivate  and  exercise  kindness — the  most  certainly  evan 
gelical  of  all  doctrines — the  principle  of  Jesus  Christ."  We 
should  doubless  deceive  ourselves  by  assigning,  as  these  words 

*  JAM.  ii.  8. 


BROTHERLY  LOVE.  21 

might  be  construed  to  assign,  to  this  second  commandment  ol 
the  Christian  dispensation,  an  importance  superior  to  that  of  the 
first.  But  when  we  remember  that  we  are  told  by  our  Divine 
Teacher  that  the  second  is  like  unto  the  first,  we  may  at  least 
infer  that  the  due  appreciation  of  either  will  involve  that  of  the 
other.  May  we  cherish  them  together  in  our  hearts,  and  preach 
them  together  in  our  lives  ! 


THE   PACIFIC   CABLE. 


As  brothers  part  at  morn, 

To  join  at  even 
With  day-long  labor  worn, 

And  count  it  heaven ; 

So  Adam's  family, 

Sped  far  asunder, 
Shall  meet  in  amity, 

With  worship-wonder. 

Some,  turning  from  the  sun, 

The  earth  have  rambled, 
And  all  its  treasures  won, 

Or  for  them  scrambled. 

Some,  watchful  of  the  skies,* 

Pursued  the  morning, 
Thirsting  with  eager  eyes 

For  its  adorning. 

And  still  our  early  traits 

Appear  to  linger, 
And  point  from  present  straits 

With  prophet-finger. 

May  we,  in  self-defence 

From  doom  of  Edom, 
Mix  Eastern  reverence 

With  Western  freedom  1 

That  each  to  each  may  say, 
Have  done  with  sorrow  1 
The  world  hath  had  its  day ; 

Give  God  the  morrow  ! 
6th  Mo.  1860. 

*  The  red  disk  in  the  national  ensign  of  Japan  has  been  supposed  to  represent  the  ri'sinpr 
in. 

22 


THE  CHRISTIAN  PENAL  SYSTEM. 


"  Say  not  thou,  I  will  recompense  evil :  but  wait  on  the  Lord  and  he  shall 
save  thee."  PROV.  xx.  22. 

"  Michael  the  Archangel,  when  contending  with  the  Devil  he  disputed  about 
the  body  of  Moses,  durst  not  bring  against  him  a  railing  accusation,  but  said, 
The  Lord  rebuke  thee."  JUDE,  9. 

THE  practical  mysteries  which  are  involved  in  the  abstract 
doctrines  of  the  Divine  Omniscience,  Omnipresence  and 
potential  Supremacy,  are  unfathomable  only  in  so  far  as  they 
are  inexhaustible.  The  Faith  of  to-day  cannot  live  upon  the 
manna  of  yesterday  ;  but  materials  can  never  be  wanting  for  its 
subsistence  while  the  occasion  for  its  exercise  shall  remain  ;  and 
the  essential  work  of  the  Christian,  it  should  be  ever  remem 
bered,  is  indistinguishable  from  his  essential  meat,  whether 
it  be  called  the  "Work  of  Faith"  or  the  "Labor  of  Love." 
If  there  be  any  universally  instantaneous  stage  in  the  experi 
ence  of  Christian  conversion,  such  presumably  is  the  extinc 
tion  of  the  blindness  of  Faith  in  the  vision  of  Love.  The 
subordinate  objects,  modes  and  fruits  of  Faith  continually 
multiply  in  the  path  of  the  Christian,  until  Faith  and  Hope 
become  finally  alike  obsolete  in  the  immediate  realization  of 
that  one  Truth,  Way  and  Life,  from  which  all  partial  mani 
festations  of  good  proceed,  to  which  they  are  designed  to 
lead,  and  in  which  they  are  capable  of  being  harmoniously 
blended. 

Of  these  subordinate  truths  or  objects  of  Faith,  there  are 
two  of  which  it  is  especially  important  for  the  sake  of  social 
order  that  they  should  be  recognized  as  indisputable  realities. 


24  THE    CHRISTIAN  PENAL   SYSTEM. 

One  of  these  is  the  promise  abundantly  held  forth  in  Holy 
Writ,  that  u  bread  shall  be  given  and  waters  shall  be  sure," 
that  the  means  of  living  and  doing  shall  not  be  wanting,  to 
the  servants  of  God.  The  other  is  the  duty  and  privilege  re 
vealed  in  the  New  Testament,  of  believing  "all  things"  in 
the  exercise  of  gospel-charity.  Except  the  human  judge  be 
gifted  on  any  occasion  with  the  divine  prerogative  of  an  in 
fallible  discernment  to  the  contrary,  it  is  alwrays  possible  for 
him  to  believe,  and  therefore  always  incumbent  on  him  to 
assume,  that  his  fellow-beings  are  endeavoring  to  do  rightly 
so  far  as  they  may  be  free  agents.  The  extent  to  which  they 
are  indeed  free  agents,  is  of  course  known  only  to  Him  who 
is  conversant  with  all  their  past  history  and  with  all  their 
present  merely  circumstantial  limitations,  and  who  knows 
how  far  they  may  still  continue  to  be  in  any  respects  the 
slaves  of  habit  and  the  pamperers  of  passion,  without  shut 
ting  "  the  gates  of  mercy"  on  their  own  souls.  The  first  of 
these  objects  or  rules  of  Faith  may  be  styled  the  principle  of 
social  independence,  and  is  here  noticeable  as  the  logical 
foundation  of  the  second,  which  may  be  designated  as  the 
principle  of  social  influence. 

Little  reflection  is  necessary  to  understand  that  the  trans 
gressor  who  is  treated  as  one  who  is  doing  his  very  best,  must 
be  treated  most  severely  and  most  efficiently.  And  the  more 
angry  he  may  become  at  having  it  assumed,  in  the  absence  of 
his  own  open  self-condemnation,  that  he  could  not  do  better, 
the  more  glaringly  will  he  justify  the  disciplinary  measures 
of  those  who  may  have  proceeded  to  act  on  the  assumption. 
Almost  as  obvious  is  the  remark  that  the  merely  formal  well 
doer  is  always  the  most  easily  kept  within  the  reach  of  whole 
some  influence,  by  being  treated  as  a  well-meaner.  For  even 
hypocrisy  cannot  at  last  avoid  drawing  the  contrast  between 
itself  and  earnestness,  and  so  being  reformed,  if  anything  can 
reform  it,  by  the  sense  of  its  own  surpassing  shame.  The 
precept  and  the  promise,  "  Vengeance  is  mine  ;  I  will  repay, 
saith  the  Lord,"  like  all,  the  other  mysteries  of  Faith,  become 


THE    CHRISTIAN  PENAL   SYSTEM.  25 

ever  increasingly  fathomable  with  the  increase  of  knowledge 
and  the  development  of  mind,  and  increasingly  illustrative  of 
the  general  principle.  *•  the  just  shall  live  by  his  faith,"  and 
of  the  corresponding  general  injunction,  "  Trust  to  the  Lord 
with  thy  whole  heart,  and  lean  not  to  thine  own  understand- 


INFLUENCE. 


A  MAUDLIN  mood  by  cunning  caught ; 
A  current,  turned  from  nature's  course, 
On  private  aims  to  spend  its  force 

By  subtle  machinations  taught ; 

A  flood,  unstable  as  the  will 

Which  rests  upon  a  borrowed  faith  ; 
A  lawless  league  ;  a  reckless  wraith 

At  random  prone  to  cure  or  kill ; 

So  facile,  and  so  purposeless, 

Seems  oft  the  strength  which  all  men  know 
Through  others  on  themselves  to  flow, 

In  violence  or  gentleness. 

From  crooked  paths  the  way  direct 
Appears  to  bend.     So  doth  the  heart 
Not  moored  by  hope,  seem  to  impart 

To  things  around,  its  own  defect. 

In  rigid  course  the  truth  still  flows  : 
E'en  language  when  it  thus  affirms 
Some  lameness  shows,  in  that  it  terms 

The  truth,  a  thing  which  comes  and  goes  : 

But  stabler  than  the  electric  ground 
Which  underlies  all  matter;  o'er 
The  gulf  of  outward  distance,  more 

Alert  to  waft  the  secret  sound 

Of  deep  exclaiming  unto  deep  ; 

Doth  truth  to  hearts  attentive  prove 
Its  work,  and  only  seem  to  move 

In  darkness,  to  the  souls  which  sleep, 
26 


OUR    CHAOS. 


"God  is  light." — i  JOHN  i.  5. 

"  God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion,  but  of  peace." — i  COR.  xiv.  33. 

HAD  our  blessed  Saviour,  on  the  occasion  of  his  appear 
ance  as  a  man  among  men,  commanded  his  disciples 
to  "  be  perfect"  as  He  was  perfect,  the  precept  might  have 
been  ever  after  adduced  as  evidence  that  example,  rather  than 
independent  enlightenment  and  decision,  —  that  precedent 
rather  than  principle, — was  the  divinely  authorized  means  of 
governing  the  world.  By  directing  their  attention  on  the 
other  hand  to  an  invisible  and  ever-progressive  standard, — 
our  conception  of  the  infinite  purity  and  power  of  the  Heav 
enly  Father, — he  enforced  the  necessity  of  individual  investi 
gation,  and  established  the  doctrine  of  individual  responsibil 
ity.  It  is  impossible  for  the  unregenerate  human  mind  to 
divest  itself  of  the  impression  that  power  in  some  way  resides, 
and  is  therefore  to  be  sought  for,  in  creaturely  attainment, 
rather  than  in  a  spiritual  and  essentially  progressive  union 
with  the  divine  Creator.  We  wander  at  best  in  an  inveterate 
and  deceitful  confvision  of  truth  and  beauty,  until  the  super 
natural  power  of  faith  in  Christ  shall  subordinate  the  earth 
ward  to  the  heavenward  nature,  and  lift  us  out  of  the  inherited 
limitations  which  prevent  us  from  recognizing  the  essential 
unity  of  the  diverse  aspects  of  truth.  We  must,  more  or  less, 
have  chaos  in  ourselves,  and  discordance  with  one  another, 
until  we  learn  on  this  inward  ground  of  coherency  and  assur 
ance,  to  distinguish  between  cause  and  effect  in  every  definite 
portion  of  our  experience. 

3»  27 


28  OUR    CHAOS. 

The  rule  of  Theology  here  becomes  the  rule  of  all  science 
and  the  test  of  all  art.  As  there  is  no  safe  beginning,  so  there 
is  no  worthy  ending,  but  in  God  ;  and  every  assumption,  and 
every  aim  which  deliberately  falls  short  of  acknowledging  his 
omnipresent  power  and  goodness,  is  self-refuted  and  self-de 
feated,  in  the  view  of  any  who  have  become  acquainted  with 
the  Source  and  course  of  true  inspiration.  The  manna  of  the 
wilderness  which  lasted  but  for  a  day,  is  an  enduring  type  of 
practical  wisdom,  so  long  as  that  wilderness  journey  itself 
remains  an  unfulfilled  type.  The  perishable  creatures  can 
only  be  truly  estimated  and  safely  pursued  in  their  graduated 
and  ever-varying  subordination  to  the  eternal  Creator,  and  to 
one  another  in  Him.  What  this  subordination  at  any  partic 
ular  juncture  may  be,  mortals  cannot  of  course  be  expected  to 
decide  for  one  another,  since  the  leadership  of  mind  is  itself  a 
variable  phenomenon,  imperfectly  symbolized  in  any  natural 
or  artificial  distinctions,  save  as  the  lines  of  distinction  in 
science  and  in  society  shall  be  viewed  from  that  Centre  of 
divine  illumination  and  life — that  "fullness  of  God,"* — in 
which  they  meet  and  terminate.  It  is  enough  for  all  practi 
cally  to  remember  that  subordination,  mediate  or  immediate, 
and  not  self-preservation,  is  "the  first  law"  of  the  better 
nature, wherein  obedience  becomes  the  sole  condition  of  end 
less  life  and  perfect  order.  "Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of 
the  whole  matter :  Fear  God,  and  keep  his  commandments, 
for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man."f 

*  EPH.  iii.  19.  t  ECCLES.  xii.  13. 


FORTUNE, 


"  How  rudely  broken  into  bits 
Is  this  promiscuous  whole  ! 
How  miserably  sometimes  fits 

Its  circumstance,  the  soul ! 

/ 

"  This  mess  we  call  society, 

As  known  in  outward  things — 
What  ruinous  variety 

Its  boasted  order  brings  ! 

"  The  soul's  the  substance  of  the  man : 

Are  not  all  souls  alike  ? 
Then  how  unfair  the  social  plan, 
In  which  such  contrasts  strike  ! 

"  My  neighbor  has  the  very  lot 

Which  would  be  bliss  to  me, 
With  grief  or  pother  scarce  a  jot, 
So  far  as  I  can  see. 

"  Surely,  some  savage  solitude 

Were  fitter  to  my  mind, 
Where  such  hard  thoughts  could  not  intrude, 
Nor  envy  of  my  kind  !" 

Not  so,  most  wayward  !     Thou  canst  own 

The  soul  to  be  the  man  ; 
But  yet  the  wrongs  thou  wouldst  bemoan, 

Thou  wilt  not  stay  to  scan. 

Thy  neighbor  knows  his  private  grief: 

And  thou,  if  thou  wilt  see, 
May'st  find  the  pleasures  of  his  fief 

An  heritage  to  thee. 


THE   RULE  OF   POVERTY. 


"  That  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence. r; — I  COR.  i.  29. 

I  CANNOT  doubt  that  the  famous  founder  of  the  Order 
of  the  Franciscans  was  and  is  a  genuine  saint.  I  do  not 
venture  to  decide  on  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  story  of  his 
having  received  in  hands  and  feet  and  side,  the  stigmata  of 
his  crucified  Lord  ;  and  I  consider  that  it  would  be  equally 
rash  to  recommend  his  vow  of  perpetual  poverty  to  all  con 
ditions  of  men  in  all  ages  of  the  world.  His  memory  is 
illustrious  with  me,  mainly  by  virtue  of  his  plain-spoken  pre 
cept,  "  Let  every  man  remember  that  such  as  he  may  appear 
in  the  sight  of  God,  such  he  really  is."  I  fancy  that  I  observe 
in  this  utterance  a  combination  of  filial  dependence  and  manly 
independence,  which  show  it  glaringly  in  contrast  with  that 
too  popular  strain  of  an  erratic  modern  minstrel, 

"  O  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us !" 

I  consider  that  if  we  are  but  careful  not  to  shun  poverty,  it 
is  unnecessary  and  inexpedient,  as  a  general  rule,  to  go  to 
the  length  of  actually  seeking  it.  Sdys  a  contemporary,* 

'Twas  not  wisely  done, 
On  all  to  bind  that  ecstasy  of  love 
Which  revels  in  privations.     Well  for  him, 
The  stainless-hearted  knight  of  poverty, 
That  wandering  through  the  world,  as  one  who  lacks 
His  daily  bread.     But,  for  the  feebler  souls, 
The  beggar's  life  may  bring  the  beggar's  thoughts, 

*  Prof.  PI.UMPTRE,  Master  and  Scholar. 
30 


THE  RULE    OF  POVERTY.  31 

The  sordid  care,  the  coarse  and  earthly  greed, 
The  baser  that  all  gloss  and  finer  touch 
Are  torn  away,  and  nothing  left  to  hide 
The  swine-like  foulness." 

The  advantage  of  every  condition  of  life  may  be  said  to 
consist  solely  in  its  adaptedness  to  the  character  of  the  liver. 
In  other  words,  the  happiness  and  usefulness  of  all  men  de 
pend,  under  the  guidance  of  heavenly  grace,  only  on  that 
correspondence  between  their  several  characters  and  circum 
stances,  which  is  the  continual  proof  of  a  Providential  control 
in  human  affairs,  and  without  which  the  great  practical  doc 
trine  of  divine  contentment  and  devout  thankfulness  through 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  apart  from  the  hope  of  a  still  more 
blissful  hereafter,  would  be  a  manifest  heresy.  To  the  faithful 
Christian,  life  itself  is  such  absolute  and  unfathomable  wealth, 
that  all  the  degrees  of  material  and  intellectual  attainment, 
and  of  merely  imitative  culture,  by  which  men  are  distin 
guished  when  compared  among  themselves,  are  indeed  but 
"as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance"  in  his  estimation.  Where 
there  is  but  that  fitness  on  the  part  of  any  to  their  several 
surroundings,  of  which  the  prevalence  of  thankful  content 
ment  is  the  indisputable  proof,  there  must  be  lessons  of  uni 
versal  interest  to  be  derived  from  such  surroundings,  even  if 
they  be  remarkable  only  as  those  of  comparative  destitution. 

The  advantage  of  the  condition  of  poverty  lies,  doubtless, 
in  the  fact  that  it  is  pre-eminently  a  condition  of  discipline. 
In  a  world  where  discipline  may  be  said  to  be  the  only  uni 
versally  important  object  of  life,  as  being  the  only  means  for 
realizing  the  riches  of  a  nobler  world,  this  circumstance  might 
indeed  seem  to  recommend  the  vow  of  the  Franciscans,  were 
it  not  that  the  purely  spiritual  discipline  of  the  Cross  of  Christ 
is  of  itself  sufficient  under  all  circumstances,  to  lead  him  who 
is  the  subject  of  it  to  the  realization  of  the  heavenly  life.  The 
peculiar  advantage  of  contented  poverty,  therefore,  must  lie  in 
the  peculiar  facilities  which  it  may  afford  for  the  apprehension 
and  extension  of  that  truly  and  only  divine  discipline. 


32  THE  RULE    OF  POVERTY. 

uThe  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,"  are  the  great  foes 
which  in  all  ages  beset  the  mind,  the  body  and  the  soul,  of 
the  Christian  pilgrim.  The  use  of  poverty  as  a  guard  against 
the  dangers  of  fleshly  indulgence,  I  deem  too  obvious  for  com 
ment.  Its  utility  as  a  weapon  for  contending  with  the  great 
"  adversary  of  souls,"  where  the  appetites  and  the  thoughts 
are  rightly  ordered,  we  may  well  doubt,  inasmuch  as  all  sorts 
of  attainment  here  become  available  for  the  vindication  of 
truth.  It  therefore  only  remains  to  consider  how  a  cheerful 
acquiescence  in  this  condition  of  life  may  assist  in  overcoming 
the  Evil  One,  when  we  meet  with  him  neither  as  an  open 
tempter  in  the  house  of  feasting,  nor  as  an  open  accuser  in 
the  house  of  mourning,  but  rather  as  a  companion  in  the 
highway  of  social  life,  elaborately  disguised  with  all  the  su 
perficial  graces  of  "  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the 
spirit  that  now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience." 

The  aid  which  a  superficially  apparent  poverty  here  brings 
to  the  Christian  soldier,  consists  in  the  simple  fact,  that  it 
furnishes  him  with  a  mask  which  is  still  more  effectual  than 
that  with  which  he  has  to  contend.  The  apparent  felicity  of 
u  the  children  of  disobedience,"  if  at  all  deceptive  to  him,  is 
less  so  than  his  apparent  misery  is  to  them.  His  circum 
stances  ensure  to  him  that  ready  contempt  which  removes  the 
only  disguise  of  their  character,  the  only  objects  of  their  am 
bition  or  double-mindedness  being  there  comparatively  want 
ing,  and  therefore  practically  absent.  Affectation  being  with 
them  the  language  of  respect,  it  is  only  in  the  company  of 
those  whom  they  despise,  that  they  can  make  any  approach 
to  sincerity.  Thus  it  happens  that  the  canine  nature  which 
fawns  and  cringes  before  the  insignia  of  worldly  power,  can 
not  conceal  its  lupine  lineage  from  the  eye  and  ear  of  those 
who  have  discovered,  either  in  their  own  experience  or  in 
that  of  others,  the  real  resources  of  poverty. 

No  artificial  system  of  espionage  can  approach  in  efficiency 
to  that  which  is  thus  Providentially  maintained  in  the  career 
of  those,  who  "  using  the  world  as  not  abusing  it,"  are  the 


THE  RULE    OF  POVERTY.  33 

true  rulers  of  the  world,  to  the  extent  of  the  talents  severally 
committed  to  them.  "  Notwithstanding,"  let  such  heed  the 
warning  of  the  Divine  Leader  and  Teacher,  "  in  this  rejoice 
not,  that  the  spirits  are  subject  unto  you,  but  rather  rejoice 
because  your  names  are  written  in  heaven/' 


A  LEMPEREUR. 


AHAFT,  like  pilot  at  his  helm, 

As  truth  obscure, 
The  simple  freeman  guides  his  mystic  realm 

A  Pempereur. 

He  dimly  sees  the  difference 

More  known  than  seen, 
Between  the  show  and  substance  of  events 

In  life  terrene : 

Yet  well  he  knows  how  faint  his  sight ; 

And  farther  knows, 
That,  as  the  world  revolves  through  day  and  night, 

Its  harvest  grows. 

So  cares  he  not  to  stoop  his  eyes 

To  watch  the  growth, 
But  sows  and  reaps  in  season,  as  the  skies 

Direct  for  both. 

Whate'er  the  field,  he  cares  to  know 

Force,  more  than  form, 
Braced,  whether  zephyrs  or  tornados  blow, 

To  stem  the  storm. 

He  views,  unblinded  by  desires 

For  vain  eclat, 
How  every  falling  crisis  still  requires 

Its  coup  d'etat; 

And  as  each  Rubicon  is  passed 

With  purpose  pure, 
Good  angels  call  to  the  serene  outcast,* 

—  Vive  Pempereur  ! 
34  *  i  Cor.  iv.  13. 


HOME-LIFE. 


"  Let  love  be  without  dissimulation."  ROM.  xii.  9. 

IT  is  well  said  that  u  Chanty  begins  at  home."  Only  in 
the  corrupt  creeds  and  codes  which  tend  in  some  way  to 
enslave  man  to  his  fellow-mortal,  can  the  contrary  doctrine 
gain  place.  Peace  and  war  alike  originate  in  the  heart.  As 
the  sure  policy  of  mercy  does  not  lessen  its  excellence,  so  the 
seeming  impunity  of  tyranny  does  not  qualify  its  disgraceful- 
ness.  The  despot,  of  whatever  sort  or  degree,  is  but  a  dis 
guised  and  successful  beggar,  who  lives  upon  the  forbearance 
or  the  ignorance  of  his  victims.  The  corner-stone  of  his  im 
posture  lies  in  the  artful  insinuation  that  the  first  duty  of  a 
subject  is  to  an  earthly  ruler  or  to  a  prevailing  fashion,  rather 
than  to  himself  and  to  his  God.  The  true  subordination  of 
both  Church  and  State  is  thus  more  or  less  subverted ;  the 
very  family  is  divided  against  itself,  and  the  barriers  of  pre 
judice,  which  conceal  the  possible  freedom  of  divine  grace 
from  the  actual  slavery  of  human  nature,  to  the  same  degree 
confirmed.  Individual  independence  is  the  necessary  basis  of 
social  subordination,  harmony  and  intelligence.  Enlightened 
self-interest,  although  by  no  means  a  guaranty  of  the  en 
lightened  self-sacrifice  which  is  the  soul  of  the  Christian  life, 
is  the  only  principle  of  nature  which  that  spiritual  motive  can 
immediately  and  effectually  address.  The  ecclesiastical,  or 
political,  or  social  propagandist,  who  advocates  any  other  ma 
ternity  for  the  individual  idea  of  duty,  is  essentially  a  beggar 
or  a  brigand,  who  sows  selfishness  instead  of  charity,  and  can 
reap  only  disappointment.  Surely  it  is  well  that  both  rulers 
4  35 


36  HOME-LIFE. 

and  subjects  should  cherish  the  doctrine,  that  a  man's  life,  be 
it  the  life  of  chanty  or  that  of  selfishness,  cannot  begin  else 
where  than  at  home ! 

The  battle  of  life  must  be  fought  at  home.  The  senti 
mentalist  who  maintains  that  successful  life  is  a  mere  de 
velopment  of  nature  under  any  definable  course  of  culture, 
must  indeed  assume  the  state  of  peace  to  be  an  heir-loom  of 
nature  ;  but  he  must  find  himself  at  length  at  fault,  both  in 
the  individual  and  in  the  social  application  of  his  doctrine. 
The  indefinable  law  of  the  spiritual  cross  is  the  only  rule 
which  can  enforce  that  continual  subjection  of  the  natural 
will  which  is  comparable  to  the  death  of  the  germinant  seed 
in  the  covering  soil.  All  preconceived  notions  of  happiness 
and  harmony  must  be  subordinated,  if  not  sacrificed,  to  the 
continual  revelation  of  the  inexhaustible  Spirit  of  Good,  or 
happiness  and  harmony  will  be  empty  names.  Premedita 
tion,  or  dependence  upon  preconception,  implies  a  subjection 
to  the  limitations  of  time  ;  whereas  eternity  is  the  element  of 
the  soul,  whose  only  healthy  and  lasting  dependence  must  be 
upon  the  Divine  Word,  which  "  is  not  bound"  by  any  of  the 
limitations  of  time,  space,  or  language.  If  the  show  of  order 
remains  where  the  will  of  the  one  omnipresent  and  divine 
Ruler  is  not  freely  acknowledged  as  the  accessible  and  ulti 
mate  standard  of  duty,  it  can  only  be  because  beggarly  Fear 
has  proportionally  usurped  the  throne  of  beneficent  Love. 
The  principle  of  fear  cannot  indeed  be  dispensed  with,  so 
long  as  the  bondage  of  sin  shall  in  any  degree  survive  in 
individuals  or  in  the  world  ;  but  the  triumph  of  life  consists 
in  its  voluntary  subjugation  to  the  mystical  but  omnipotent 
dominion  of  Charity. 

The  triumph  of  life  must  be  found  at  home.  Glorious 
indeed  is  the  triumph  of  the  life  of  charity  ;  for  the  whole 
world — yes,  the  whole  universe,  is  its  home.  Its  expansive 
virtue  demands  infinitude  for  its  development.  If  it  indeed 
begin  at  home,  its  genuineness  will  be  incontrovertible,  and 
its  prowess  irresistible.  Conquests  and  coalitions  will  crowd 


HOME-LIFE.  37 

upon  its  career,  and  crowns  of  rejoicing  will  everywhere  re 
ward  the  soldiers  of  faith.  Confusion,  on  the  other  hand,  and 
bankruptcy  beyond  the  hope  even  of  beggary,  will  be  the  in 
evitable  doom  of  the  faithless  soldiers  of  fortune,  who  shall 
have  incapacitated  them&tlves,  by  the  eagerness  of  selfishness, 
from  enjoying  the  overflowing  pleasures  of  the  divine  life. 
"  How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ?" 


NATURE. 


As  culture  is  not  intuition  ; 

As  knowledge  is  not  merit ; 
As  lust  bespeaks  a  base  ambition, 

And  will,  a  ruling  spirit ; 

If  faith  be  not  a  galling  fetter, 
Nor  hope  a  weak  illusion, 

Nor  love  a  loose  and  lifeless  letter, 
Nor  truth  a  grand  confusion  ; 

Man's  life  affords  an  aspect  double, 

An  upper  and  an  under, 
Which  fools  may  try  with  barren  trouble 

To  simplify  or  sunder. 

For  nature  waits  a  trusty  servant 

As  on  a  faithful  master, 
While'er  the  soul  abides  observant 

Of  profit  and  disaster  : 

While,  true  to  its  allotted  station, 
By  sure  experience  lighted,* 

It  works  the  wonderful  salvation 
In  which  all  wrongs  are  righted. 

Then  nature  finds  her  beauty  youthful, 
With  more  than  culture  polished ; 

While  knowledge  is  as  strong  as  truthful, 
And  slavish  lust  abolished  : 

She  shines  with  a  divine  reflection 
In  all  her  turns  and  features, 

A  mirror  lent  for  self-detection 

To  self-deluded  creatures. 
38  *  PHIL.  iii.  16. 


THE    REIGN    OF    PEACE. 


"Set  thine  house  in  order,  for  thou  shalt  die  and  not  live." — 2  KINGS  xx. 

THK  origin  of  order,  like  that  of  every  blessing  and  of 
every  curse,  of  all  life  and  of  all  action,  is  in  the  realm 
of  spiritual  experience.  It  may  indeed  be  seriously  question 
ed,  as  it  certainly  has  been  doubted  by  intelligent  observers, 
whether  there  can  be  any  actual  consciousness  in  any  other 
than  spiritual  beings  ;  and  without  consciousness  there  can 
obviously  be  no  such  thing  as  experience.  The  freedom  of 
heaven  and  the  bondage  of  hell,  sometimes  incidentally  con 
fused,  but  always  essentially  distinct  from  each  other,  may  be 
said  to  be  the  animating  principles  of  human  experience  ;  and 
however  they  may  be  temporarily  veiled  from  our  apprehen 
sion  by  our  necessary  intercourse  with  the  things  of  space 
and  time,  they  will  be  finally  revealed  to  us,  either  to  our  joy 
or  to  our  sorrow,  as  the  inward  substance  of  the  outward 
manifestations  in  which  they  are  at  once  incorporated  and 
obscured  to  our  natural  perceptions.  Order,  or  simplicity  in 
multiplicity,  is  the  language  of  truth  to  the  truly  attentive  ear. 
The  very  unity  of  the  Deity,  so  far  as  it  is  capable  of  intel 
lectual  demonstration,  is  but  the  logical  consequence  of  the 
universal  simplicity  of  truth.  Truth,  by  being  essentially  a 
simple  thing,  is  a  book  ever  open  and  legible  to  the  true 
lovers  of  order ;  and  hence,  if  we  believe  the  power  of  light 
to  be  indeed  superior  to  that  of  darkness,  we  must  infer  that 
order  is  the  first  law,  not  merely  of  the  spiritual,  but  also  of 
the  natural,  world.  It  is  the  principle  through  which  the 
presence  of  the  Almighty  and  All-gracious  Creator  is  reveal- 
4*  3y 


40  THE  REIGN  OF  PEACE. 

ed  in  his  works  to  all  who  watch  and  strive  against  the  en 
trance  of  confusion  in  those  deep  abodes  of  feeling  which  are 
among  the  secret  sources  of  thought. 

Like  any  other  partial  and  merely  auxiliary  blessing,  in 
deed,  order  is  not  a  thing  which  is  to  be  found  by  seeking  it 
as  an  end.  Since  it  is  idolatry  to  pursue  any  good  short  of 
the  absolute  and  unfathomable  will  of  our  Heavenly  Father 
and  Ruler  exclusively  for  its  own  sake,  we  cannot  be  actually 
dependent  upon  even  the  highest  form  of  law  while  we  are 
the  privileged  subjects  of  free  grace.  The  fear  of  the  Lord 
which  is  "  the  beginning  of  wisdom,"  is  indeed  the  life  of  the 
Law,  until  the  perfect  love  which  u  casts  out  fear"  becomes 
the  established  bond  of  union  between  God  and  man,  in  the 
new  dispensation  of  perfect  salvation.  Truth,  however,  is  a 
thing  which  may  be  lawfully  pursued  and  wisely  loved  for 
its  own  sake,  since  it  is  the  nature  of.it  to  purge  itself  of  all 
blemishes  which  our  blindness  may  impute  to  its  appearance, 
and  to  heal  all  the  miseries  which  our  diseased  nature  may 
suffer  from  its  operation,  as  it  is  indeed  singly  prized  and 
sought  for.  It  is  the  divine  principle  in  all  the  dispensations 
of  providence  and  of  grace,  and  finally  becomes  to  its  faithful 
followers  but  another  name  for  the  Deity  as  revealed  in  the 
blessed  and  only  Mediator  between  God  and  man.  There 
can  thus  be  no  genuine  and  effectual  love  of  order  which 
may  not  be  more  worthily  styled  a  pure  love  of  Truth.  The 
warning  therefore  which  was  addressed  to  the  prosperous 
king  of  Judah,  is  applicable  in  all  ages  to  all  men  in  whom 
the  great  work  of  life  has  not  been  perfected  by  their  accept 
ance  of  the  Divine  Redeemer's  universal  offers  upon  his  own 
unvarying  terms. 

The  question,  then,  forcibly  presents  itself,  What  is  this 
stronghold  of  order  which  we  call  Truth,  and  how  is  it  to  be 
known  ?  Truth  may  be  said  to  be  in  itself  the  material  or 
substance  of  all  healthy  experience  :  in  its  relations  to  human 
consciousness  and  conduct  it  may  be  styled  the  object  of 
faith  and  the  fruit  of  consistency.  a  He  that  cometh  to  God 


THE   REIGN   OF  PEACE.  41 

must  believe  that  He  is,  and  that  He  is  a  rewarder  of  them 
that  diligently  seek  Him."  The  true  earnestness  of  purpose 
in  which  past,  present  and  future,  are  regarded  but  as  different 
manifestations  of  eternity,  and  which  accordingly  values  in 
all  of  them  only  those  things  which  are  of  substantial  and 
eternal  interest,  is  the  only  spiritual  qualification  in  any  way 
originating  in  the  exercise  of  our  own  free  will,  through 
which  we  can  recognize  the  essential  unity  of  Truth.  As  we 
thus  become  consistent  in  ourselves,  we  are  enabled  to  appre 
ciate  the  consistency  which  prevails  among  the  seemingly 
heterogeneous  objects  of  our  knowledge,  —  a  consistency 
which  the  sincere  seeker  ever  finds  to  keep  pace  with  the 
actual  progress  of  his  knowledge,  and  to  be  limited  only  by 
the  barriers  of  his  conscious  ignorance.  There  is  indeed  an 
unconscious  ignorance,  or  a  blind  conceitedness,  which  is 
ever  ready  to  impute  its  own  inconsistencies  to  the  works  of 
the  All-wise  Creator  ;  but  they  who  are  the  subjects  of  it 
must  at  best  be  classed  with  the  idle  hearers  of  the  word, 
•whom  the  Apostle  likened  "  to  a  man  beholding  his  natural 
face  in  a  glass,  who  goeth  away  and  straightway  forgetteth 
what  manner  of  man  he  was."  True  faith  may  be  said  to  be 
a  spiritual  travail,  which  results  in  the  production  of  a  com 
municable  knowledge,  and  of  visible  works,  which  alike  bear 
the  family  features  of  a  divine  system,  however  variously 
times  and  circumstances  may  limit  or  extend  the  capacities 
of  individuals  for  such  production.  Truth  will  be  not  less  to 
any  the  object  of  their  faith  and  the  fruit  of  their  consistency, 
from  the  fact  that  the  outward  limitation  of  unusually  im 
perfect-opportunities  may  disqualify  them  from  becoming 
teachers  to  others,  otherwise  than  as  examples  of  the  man 
ifest  felicity  which  rewards  true  earnestness.  To  such,  no 
less  than  to  the  most  accomplished  expounders  of  nature  and 
of  doctrine,  may  be  applied  the  remarkable  testimony  of  a 
celebrated  cotemporary.  "Your  true  encyclopedical,"  says 
Thomas  Carlyle  in  his  essay  on  Diderot,  "  is  the  Homer,  the 
Shakspeare  ;  every  genuine  poet  is  a  living,  embodied,  real 


4?  THE   REIGN   OF  PEACE. 

encyclopedia — in  more  or  fewer  volumes.  Were  his  experi 
ence,  his  insight  of  details,  never  so  limited,  the  whole  world 
lies  imaged  as  a  whole  within  him."  On  the  other  hand,  he 
continues: — "Whosoever  has  not  seized  the  whole,  cannot 
yet  speak  truly  of  any  part,  but  will  perpetually  need  new 
guidance, — rectification.  The  fit  use  of  such  a  man  is  as 
hod-man  ;  not  feeling  the  plan  of  the  edifice,  let  him  carry 
stones  to  it :  if  he  build  the  smallest  stone,  it  is  likeliest  to  be 
wrong,  and  cannot  continue  there." 

Thus  in  seeking  for  the  stronghold  of  order  are  we  con 
strained  before  all  things  and  through  all  things  to  distinguish 
the  "love"  which  is  "the  fulfilling  of  the  law,"  and  which 
"buildeth  up,"  from  the  "  knowledge"  which  "  puffeth  up." 
u  The  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure  ;"  and  as  the  discipline 
of  obedience  indeed  keeps  pace  with  the  growth  of  knowledge, 
we  shall  prove  to  ourselves  and  preach  to  others  that  "  the 
work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace,  and  the  effect  of  right 
eousness  quietness  and  assurance  for  ever."  However  fully  we 
may  then  be  aware  of  the  liability  of  colleagues  or  of  suc 
cessors  to  pervert  the  treasures  of  knowledge  and  the  outward 
resources,  which  they  may  have  shared  with  us,  or  shall  in 
herit  from  us,  to  unholy  ends,  we  may  remember  how  the 
prosperity  even  of  a  Hezekiah  seemed  to  be  in  some  degree 
thwarted  by  the  folly  of  a  Manasseh  ;  and  conscious  of  hav 
ing  done  what  we  could,  we  may  with  him  contentedlv  query, 
"  Is  it  not  good,  if  truth  and  peace  be  in  my  days?" 


WISH   AND   WORK. 


*  I  WOULD  if  I  could  be  as  free  as  the  air, 

And  as  kind  as  the  harvest-moon : 
As  through  the  clouds'  dance  the  stars  tranquilly  glare, 
Through  my  thoughts  would  my  soul  keep  tune. 

"  Life's  garden  extending  beneath  my  mild  sway 

Should  be  ordered  with  faultless  skill  : 
Earth's  beauties  and  riches  the  seasons  should  lay 
At  my  feet,  to  await  my  will. 

:t  And  when  the  dread  crisis  arrives,  and  the  earth 

From  my  converse  withdraws  its  face, 
With  pious  assurance  I'd  count  on  the  worth 
Of  the  heavenly  store  of  grace." 

But  oh  !  it  were  well  for  thee,  offspring  of  Eve  ! 

While  thy  castles  in  air  may  stand, 
To  mark  their  foundation,  and  so  to  believe, 

That  thy  heart  shall  sustain  thy  hand. 

Whatever  thy  fortune,  thy  hand  shall  have  work  : 

Call  it  labor,  or  rest,  or  play, 
Thy  hand  shall  find  weight,  from  whose  cumber  no  jerk 

Nor  contrivance  can  break  away. 

Then  work  with  thy  might,  as  thy  soul  findeth  light ! 

It  is  all  that  a  man  can  do  : 
The  path  of  the  just  may  be  dim  to  thy  sight, 

But  thy  work  shall  refine  thy  view. 

The  work  of  which  faith  is  the  wonderful  seed, 

As  a  flower,  shall  then  confess 
The  reign  of  that  heaven  of  peace,  which  hath  need 

Of  the  new  earth  of  righteousness. 

43 


THE   DISEASE   AND   THE   REMEDY. 


"  He  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste."  ISA.  xxviii.  16. 

FESTINA  LENTE— Hasten  slowly,"  is  an  old  motto 
which  is  not  yet  wholly  obsolete.  It  has  however,  it 
is  to  be  feared,  become  to  a  great  extent  unintelligible  in  this 
age  of  boasted  freedom  and  expansion.  Deliberateness,  or 
thoughtfulness,  is  indeed  the  surest  guaranty  of  unfailing 
promptitude  and  true  expedition  ;  but,  now  as  of  old,  it  is 
painfully  manifest  that  "haste"  and  "hurry"  are  practically 
almost  synonymous  terms.  We  seem  ever  prone  to  waste 
our  energies  in  eagerness,  to  adopt  hurry  instead  of  delibera 
tion  as  our  counselor,  and  to  find  ourselves  the  creatures  of 
flurry  and  disappointment,  instead  of  the  organizers  of  ex 
pedition  and  success.  So  will  it  ever  be,  with  all  who  forget 
that  the  life  of  a  spiritual  and  rational  being  depends  upon 
the  exercise  and  repose  of  faith  in  "  every  word  that  proceed- 
eth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God,"  rather  than  upon  "  the  abun 
dance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 

So  long  as  we  seek  our  life  in  material  wealth,  in  physical 
health,  or  in  social  reputation,  we  must  neglect  the  only  source 
of  perfect  satisfaction.  "  Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded 
in  his  own  mind,"  wrote  he  who  may  perhaps  pre-eminently 
be  styled  the  catholic  apostle.  If  happiness  be  indeed  attain 
able,  as  Christianity  testifies,  apart  from  the  fulfillment  of  any 
worldly  conditions,  the  true  worker  will  never  be  tempted  to 
forsake  the  beneficent  career  of  universal  duty,  in  quest  of 
any  local  and  ephemeral  good.  Ever  directing  the  eye  of  his 
soul  upward  and  onward,  he  will  continually  and  increasingly 

44 


THE  DISEASE  AND    THE  REMEDY.  45 

outgrow  the  short-sightedness  which  is  the  heir-loom  of  our 
nature,  and  which  is  accordingly  naturally  manifested  in  our 
undue  devotion  to  the  things  of  earth.  His  spiritual  dignity 
will  show  itself  in  a  practical  humility,  which  can  joyfully 
acquiesce  in  any  external  allotment  of  the  Supreme  Ruler. 
Being  faithful  in  the  u  few  things,"  he  will  indeed  in  the  pro 
gress  of  the  Divine  economy  be  made  "  ruler  over  more  ;" 
but  the  reward  will  be  ever  attained  by  a  devotion  to  the 
incalculable  obligations  of  duty,  rather  than  by  a  calculating 
anticipation  of  the  reward  itself.  Otherwise  his  work  would 
evidently  be  one  of  selfish  and  therefore  rash  usurpation, 
rather  than  of  self-renouncing  but  safe  deliberation.  Whatever 
may  be  our  sphere  of  action,  let  us  remember  that  "  he  that 
maketh  haste  to  be  rich  shall  not  be  innocent  5"  but  that  u  the 
liberal  man  deviseth  liberal  things,  and  by  liberal  things  he 
shall  stand." 


THE    OLD    BELL. 


HOLY  bell  as  ever  hung ! 

Now  again  we  turn  to  thee  : 
Sing  the  song  which  erst  thou  sung 

To  our  country's  infancy  ! 

Dumb  no  longer  mayst  thou  stand  ! 

Now  anew  the  strain  begin, — 
"Liberty  throughout  the  land, 
Unto  all  that  dwell  therein  1" 

Now  at  length  the  melter's-heat 
Shall  thy  harmony  restore, 

While  our  hearts  responsive  beat, 
Not  with  doublings  as  of  yore. 

Doubt  and  discord  brooding  then, 
Well  thy  fortune  did  relate, 

Eloquently  mute  to  men 

Heedless  of  their  high  estate. 

Now  the  monsters,  with  their  fry, 
Caste,  and  truculence,  and  greed, 

In  the  flaming  furnace  die, 
And  the  land  afresh  is  freed. 

Broken  bell !     In  sympathy 
With  our  crisis  and  our  cure, 

Once  for  all  do  thou  agree 
Gentler  burning  to  endure  ! 

Celebrate  the  service  grand 

O'er  our  hydra-headed  sin, — 
"  Freedom  throughout  ALL  the  land 

Unto  all  that  dwell  therein  !" 
4th  2nd  Mo.  1865. 

46 


PRIMARY    PROBLEMS. 


*•    "  But  I  fear  lest  by  any  means  your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from  the 
simplicity  that  is  in  Christ." — 2  COR.  xi.  3. 

r  I  "'HERE  are  two  queries  which  continually  salute  the 
JL  mental  ear  of  every  sensible  and  earnest  man,  woman 
and  child,  until  they  find  such  answers  to  them  as  may  qual 
ify  them  to  know  and  do  their  proper  business  in  the  world. 
The  first  is,  What  am  I?  The  second,  Where  am  I?  Not 
until  these  are  answered  can  we  be  ready  for  the  farther 
query,  What  have  I  to  do? — nor  even  approach  any  nearer  to 
it  than  doubtingly  if  not  miserably  to  ask,  Have  I  indeed 
anything  in  particular  to  do? 

What  am  I?  Our  Creator  himself  mediately  tells  us  that 
He  "  formed  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  ;  and  man  became  a  living 
soul."  We  do  not  read  that  the  earth  and  the  waters  were 
commanded  to  bring  forth  man,  as  they  were  commanded  to 
bring  forth  the  inferior  tribes  of  animated  nature.  Man  has 
indeed  an  animal  nature  ;  and  it  is  even  possible  that  by  u  the 
dust  of  the  earth"  from  which  he  is  so  far  said  to  derive  his 
origin,  some  or  all  of  these  inferior  tribes  may  be  intended. 
But  it  is  at  least  clear  that  the  animal  nature  is  not,  never 
was,  and,  even  in  its  most  refined  development,  never  can  be, 
the  man  properly  so  called.  It  was  only  "  into  his  nostrils" 
that  "  the  Lord  God  breathed  the  breath  of  life,"  and  he  con 
sequently,  and  he  alone,  "  became  a  living  soul,"  however 
closely  those  inferior  creatures  may  often  imitate  the  expres 
sion  of  a  spiritual  life;  or  however  largely  he  may  himself 
5  D  47 


48  PRIMARY  PROBLEMS. 

sometimes  retain  the  appearance,  after  having  sinfully  for 
saken  the  reality,  and  so  become  spiritually  dead. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  us  now  to  consider  particularly  the 
history  of  the  fall  of  our  first  parents,  and  of  the  salvation 
which  is  to  be  found  in  Him  who  is  called  the  Second  Adam. 
It  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  to  observe  that  inas 
much  as  the  Soul  is  the  distinguishing  principle  of  manhood, 
the  Body  with  all  its  graces  and  powers  is  to  be  viewed  as  an 
appendage  or  parasite  to  the  soul,  rather  than  the  soul  to  it, 
as  we  are  too  apt  hastily  to  assume.  The  soul  is  the  sub 
stance,  and  the  body  the  shadow,  rather  than  the  reverse,  as 
young  people  especially  are  in  danger  of  thinking.  Let  us 
then  consider  our  first  query  sufficiently  answered,  for  the 
present  at  least,  by  saying  that  We  are  souls. 

The  next  inquiry  is,  Where  are  we?  To  this  I  think  it 
enough  at  present  to  reply,  that  as  souls  or  spiritual  beings, 
we  are  each  of  us  in  this  state  of  existence  tied  and  confined, 
more  or  less  closely,  to  a  set  of  thoughts  which  we  call  the 
mind,  which  again  is  tied  or  confined  to  the  earthen  taber 
nacle  which  each  recognizes  as  his  individual  body.  It  is  a 
solemn  truth  that  we  are  naturally  prisoners ;  but  it  is  evi 
dently  a  hopeful  alleviation  of  our  fate,  that  our  prison-house 
is  not.  except  it  be  by  our  own  choice,  the  solitary  cell  of  an 
individual  body  or  an  individual  mind,  but  that  we  are  mer 
cifully  allowed  upon  trial  the  range  of  the  common  realm  of 
our  fallen  nature,  and  of  the  earth  which  partakes  of  our 
ancestral  curse.  In  this  common  prison-house,  therefore,  as 
we  faithfully  explore  it  for  the  means  of  escape,  we  will  be 
surely  privileged  to  find  companionship  and  sympathy  in  our 
search,  until  all  the  fetters  of  individuality  and  spiritual  sloth- 
fulness  shall  be  shaken  oft",  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  our 
persistent  devotion. 

The  answer  to  our  third  query  has  been  thus  somewhat 
anticipated.  Our  appointed  work,  we  are  disinterestedly 
assured  by  those  who  have  worked  and  triumphed  before  our 
time,  is  to  glorify  God, "and  to  ensure  our  own  eternal  happi- 


PRIMARY  PROBLEMS.  49 

ness  by  escaping  from  the  bondage  of  our  inherited  nature  : 
and  that  no  one  may  be  at  a  loss  for  want  of  explicit  direc 
tion,  each  one  of  us  is  also  commanded,  "  Whatsoever  thy 
hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might."  Let  us  finish  our 
present  inquiry  with  a  brief  consideration  of  this  ancient  text. 
"  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy 
might."  All  sorts  of  work,  we  see,  are  thus  thrown  together, 
and  all  sorts  of  people,  with  the  single  stipulation  that  all 
shall  bring  earnestness  to  their  work.  We  are  left  to  infer 
that  by  this  simple  means,  confusion  and  waste  of  labor  will 
be  more  surely  avoided,  than  by  any  amount  of  anxious  con 
trivance.  "  Surely,"  it  has  been  said,  "  man  is  a  shadow, 
and  life  a  dream."  We  so  readily  forget  the  evanescence 
and  comparative  insignificance  of  all  worldly  interests,  that 
we  often  distinguish  and  choose  too  carefully  between  the 
different  degrees  and  kinds  of  knowledge  and  labor,  and  may 
sometimes  even  exaggerate  the  diversities  of  age  and  station. 
We  are  thus  apt  both  to  shut  our  eyes  upon  the  glorious  sim 
plicity  of  all  truth,  and  to  lose  the  strength  which  is  ever  to 
be  derived  from  the  essential  unity  of  all  true  manhood. 
Let  us  rest  assured  that  earnest  co-operation  will  always  en 
sure  progress,  though  it  be  as  the  corn  grows.  u  a  man  knovv- 
eth  not  how.". 


THE   RELIGION   OF   LABOR. 


A  FAITH  in  common  is  a  shrine  of  prayer, 
To  which  true  comrades  for  relief  repair, 
And  banish  doubt  and  disagreement  there. 

Communities  find  thus  a  real  bond, 

To  which  all  hearts  with  kindred  pulse  respond, 

And  gathered  strength,  all  parted  strength  beyond, 

But  private  life  needs  oft  its  lesser  tie — 
A  bond  which  infant  faith  will  not  supply, 
On  which  each  man  may  constantly  rely. 

'Tis  true,  if  private  faith  were  clear  and  strong, 
Life  would  be  worship,  and  its  work  a  song 
Which  every  change  of  scene  would  but  prolong. 

B'lt  faith  appears  to  need  its  time  to  grow ; 

And  in  its  non-age  will  require  the  show 

Of  ready  forms,  through  which  its  force  may  flow. 

Thus  then  in  daily  life  the  need  we  find 
For  crude  routine,  man's  purposes  to  bind 
To  healthful  ways,  for  body,  soul  and  mind. 

Then,  with  the  very  reverence  of  the  kirk, 
From  rude  aggression,  and  from  captious  quirk, 
Protect  thy  neighbor  in  his  lawful  work ! 
M 


MIND    AND    MONEY    CONSIDERED   AS 
CURRENCIES. 


"  Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom,  and  the  man  that  getteth  under 
standing  ;  for  the  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the  merchandise  of  silver, 
and  the  gain  thereof  than  fine  gold." — PROV.  iii.  13,  14. 

"  Words  and  money  are  both  to  be  regarded  as  only  marks  of  things." — 
BERKELEY:  The  Guardian,  No.  77. 

[NOTE  BY  THE  AUTHOR  :  I  deem  it  only  prudent,  in  consideration  of  some 
coincidence  in  the  line  of  argument,  to  notify  the  reader  that  this  essay  was 
written  before  the  appearance  in  England  of  the  ingenious  and  learned  work 
entitled,  The  Gay  Science,  by  E.  M.  DALLAS.] 

THE  intelligent  observer  and  actor  will  hardly  need  to  be 
told,  in  this  age  of  enlightenment,  that  there  are  two 
principal  sorts  of  currency  in  the  world.  By  currency  I  mean, 
as  everybody  means,  something  which  represents  wealth  or 
the  objects  of  enjoyment.  Enjoyment,  although  often  itself 
loosely  spoken  of  as  an  object,  and  pursued  as  such,  and  al 
though  indeed  practically  one  of  the  most  manifest  of  realities, 
is  yet  theoretically  one  of  the  most  indefinable  and  inscrutable 
of  mysteries.  It  is  therefore  practically,  or  as  an  object  of 
pursuit,  identified  with  those  more  appreciable  and  definable 
objects  of  material,  moral  and  spiritual  utility,  such  as  physi 
cal  health,  corporeal  food  and  other  furniture,  social  influence, 
and  personal  character,  which  are  the  elementary  ingredients 
of  wealth.  How  far  these  endowments  can  justly  be  regarded 
as  objects  commendable  or  desirable  in  themselves,  is  indeed 
a  question  for  moralists  to  consider,  in  the  investigation  of 
abstract  truth.  But  until  human  nature  shall  be  more  gen 
erally  refined  to  that  spiritual  and  unselfish  life  which  is  now 


52  MIND  AND  MONET 

only  its  occasional  and  perhaps  exceptional  aspect,  these  ele 
mentary  endowments,  it  may  be  assumed,  will  be  the  objects 
rather  than  the  means  of  its  aspirations — its  wealth  rather 
than  its  currencies.  It  becomes  therefore  our  more  immediate 
duty  to  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  actual  currencies  or  means 
which  practically  serve  as  representatives  and  vehicles  of  the 
recognized  wealth  which  they  themselves  never  are.  It  must 
be  admitted,  indeed,  that  the  materials  of  currency  may  be 
come  immediate  articles  of  wealth  as  thus  defined  ;  yet  as 
this  can  only  occur  and  continue  while  they  are  withdrawn 
from  use  as  currency,  such  a  liability  cannot  vitiate  the  dis 
tinction  which  is  ever  obvious  to  the  conscious  agent,  between 
his  purposed  object  and  his  actual  means.  To  be  more  ex 
plicit,  therefore,  I  propose  merely  to  treat  of  currencies,  as 
currencies. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  two  kinds  of  currency  or  means 
which  we  have  to  consider,  must  resemble  one  another  in 
having  no  immediate  or  intrinsic  usefulness  or  value  ;  but  one 
which  depends  entirely  upon  the  circumstances  that  they  are, 
in  a  mode  which  only  experience  can  fully  explain,  a  sort  of 
heralds  or  handles  for  things  which  have  use  or  value,  and 
which  are  wealth.  They  are  alike  also  in  the  circumstance 
that  they  are  both  capable  of  being  indefinitely  multiplied, 
and  that  as  it  were  spontaneously)  so  that  the  supply  is  ever, 
upon  the  whole,  increased  according  to  the  demand,  by  the 
very  rise  of  the  demand,  as  well  as  on  the  other  hand  dimin 
ished  by  its  decline. — Take  these  assertions  upon  faith,  for  an 
instant,  gentle  reader !  if  some  of  them  appear  at  first  sight 
to  be  paradoxical. — They  are  alike,  again,  in  the  circumstance 
that  both  may  be  counterfeited,  and  so  in  some  degree  sup 
planted  by  a  base  currency.  They  are  alike,  also,  inasmuch 
as  their  availability  or  conventional  usefulness  appears  to 
be  alike  dependent  upon  definite  deficiencies  in  the  natural 
powers  of  the  human  race,  and  therefore  alike  destined  to 
he  limited  by  the  period  which  shall  limit  the  natural  im- 
perfectness  of  which  those  deficiencies  are  a  part.  There  is 


CONSIDERED  AS   CURRENCIES.  53 

yet  another  circumstance  of  similarity  which  may  seem  to 
have  demanded  an  earlier  place  in  the  list;  but  as  I  do  not 
attempt  to  be  either  complete  or  very  systematic  in  my  ac 
count,  I  will  mention  it  here,  at  whatever  risk  of  producing 
it  out  of  due  time.  This  last  circumstance  is  the  fact,  that 
although  both  of  them  are  only  known  and  realized  as  they 
may  seem  to  be  private  property,  and  are  held  in  the  heads 
or  hands  of  individuals,  they  are  not  essentially  either  of  them 
private  property,  even  while  withheld,  as  they  sometimes  are 
under  the  infatuation  of  a  short-sighted  policy,  from  their 
proper  service  as  currency  ;  but  are  even  then  merely  stand 
ing,  instead  of  moving  representatives,  of  some  form  of  that 
true  wealth,  in  the  accumulation  or  command  of  which  alone, 
private  property  can  consist.  Strictly  speaking  they  are  both 
of  them,  from  beginning  to  end,  public  institutions,  or  private 
only  in  so  far  as  all  public  interests  may  seem  to  have  a  pri 
vate  origin  and  application.  Cautious  reader!  let  us  pause 
before  proceeding  closely  to  examine  these  vague  enuncia 
tions,  in  order  to  assure  ourselves  that  we  are  thinking  to 
gether  upon  one  ground  of  thought,  and  with  the  same  sub 
ject-materials. 

The  two  species  of  currency  I  am  attempting  to  compare 
are  called  severally,  Ideas,  and  Money.  Both  of  them  are 
articles  which  it  may  be  rather  difficult  at  first  thought  to 
define,  owing  to  the  reckless  manner  in  which  both  are  tam 
pered  with  by  officious  meddlers,  or  by  those  who  have  been 
taught  to  think  that  such  meddlings  are  legitimate  and  pro 
ductive  branches  of  industry.  These  intrusions,  however,  are 
in  their  nature  self-limited.  A  crisis,  as  it  is  called,  moral  or 
monetary,  breaks  out  from  time  to  time,  as  sudden,  perhaps, 
and  seemingly  capricious  as  a  vernal  shower,  or  as  a  novel 
freak  of  Parisian  costume,  and  sweeps  the  clogging  grievances 
from  their  nestling-place,  almost  as  kindly  as  the  cleansing 
stream  which  glides,  impotent  for  evil,  from  the  plumage  of 
the  plunging  water-fowl.  In  general  terms,  these  currencies 
may  both  be  defined  as  consisting  of  certain  materials  in  con- 
5* 


54  MIND   AND   MONET 

nection  with  certain  impressions  or  patterns  which  determine 
the  size  and  appearance  of  the  material  as  tendered.  The 
materials  in  both  cases  are  in  themselves  permanent  or  inde 
structible,  and,  as  prepared  for  service,  are  powerful  according 
to  the  amount  of  weight,  physical  or  metaphysical,  which  may 
be  thrown  into  the  pieces  at  the  time  of  their  issue.  These 
two  circumstances  are  those  which  are  of  fundamental  im 
portance  ;  the  form  of  the  impressions  being  in  both  cases 
more  or  less  arbitrary  and  variable,  although  it  also  is  adven 
titiously  necessary  as  an  intelligible  certificate  that  the  whole 
thing  is  actually  a  piece  of  currency  of  a  certain  value.  The 
material  of  the  kind  which  we  name  Ideas,  is  crude  or  latent 
Thought:  but  as  the  term  "  Thought"  is  so  commonly  used 
to  signify  a  defined  and  transferable  idea,  it  may  be  well  here 
to  derive  another  name  from  its  physiological  relations,  and  to 
designate  this  crude  material  by  the  name  of  Brain,  with  the 
proviso  that  we  thereby  intend  only  the  element,  or  quality, 
or  function  of  brain,  which  must  be  common  to  all  thinkers 
who  are  capable  of  holding  correspondence  with  each  other. 
The  material  for  money  is  not  quite  so  definitely  and  exclu 
sively  provided  for  man  by  the  hand  of  the  Creator,  inasmuch 
as  this  form  of  currency  is  not  so  entirely  a  Providential  and 
indispensable  institution  as  the  other,  having  been  left  more 
largely  to  the  ordering  of  human  invention,  so  that  there  is 
more  room  for  selection  from  the  various  materials  of  nature. 
The  only  materials,  however,  which  we  need  here  note  are 
those  elementary  substances  which  are  styled  "  the  precious 
metals  ;"  and  of  these  the  metal  Gold  may  be  named  as  a 
convenient  and  here  sufficient  representative :  the  rest  are  too 
familiarly  known  to  require  any  notice  now,  beyond  the  re 
mark,  that  the  principles  which  regulate  the  employment  of 
gold  as  currency,  are  alike  applicable  to  them  as  currency, 
since  they  are,  so  far,  nothing  more  nor  less  than  gold  diluted, 
as  it  were,  in  different  degrees  of  strength. 

Patient    reader !     let    us    now    briefly    review    and     more 
particularly    consider    the    points    of   resemblance,    paradox- 


CONSIDERED   AS    CUKKENCIES.  .55 

ical  or  not  paradoxical,  which  we  lately  remarked  upon  col 
lectively. 

First:  that  of  no  intrinsic  value.  Mere  brain,  and  mere 
gold — alike  glittering,  it  may  be,  and  in  their  very  pliancy 
tenacious  of  their  native  coherency,  but  intrinsically  cold, 
heavy,  lifeless  and  barren — how  impotent  of  themselves  to 
feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  shelter  the  homeless, 
or  to  cheer  the  faint  or  heal  the  wounded  heart !  Little, 
surely,  of  confirmation  is  called  for  here.  The  adventitious 
importance  or  availability  is  scarcely  even  temporarily  im 
parted  to  the  coin  concerned  in  either  case,  being  rather 
imputed  by  a  necessary  submission  to  the  metaphysical  unity 
of  the  law  of  perception  in  the  one,  and  in  the  other  by  the 
voluntary  establishment  of  an  artificial  uniformity  upon  the 
consent  of  custom.  It  may  seem,  indeed,  that  there  here 
occurs  a  serious  diversity  between  the  two  currencies,  to  the 
disparagement  of  the  currency  of  ideas.  Thought,  as  cur 
rency,  may  at  first  sight  seem  to  be  less  deserving  of  attention 
and  care,  because  it  may  seem  that  the  portion  used  is  not 
sacrificed  in  the  using,  as  is  the  case  with  the  currency  of 
money.  Since  the  holder  or  user  while  conveying  it  to 
others  appears  to  retain  as  much  of  it  as  he  parts  with,  or 
rather  to  part  with  none  of  it,  its  importance  as  an  object  of 
solicitude  may  appear  to  be  less  urgent  inasmuch  as  the  pos 
session  of  it  is  thus  apparently  more  secure  in  its  very  nature. 
In  other  words  the  communication  of  thought  appears  to  be 
different  from  that  of  gross  matter,  and  rather  like  that  of 
flame,  in  which  the  lighting  of  a  fresh  torch  does  not  extin 
guish  that  already  burning :  whereas  in  conveying  the  other 
kind  of  currency,  whether  it  be  for  a  satisfactory  considera 
tion  or  not,  one  wholly  relinquishes  possession  of  the  amount 
transferred  ;  so  that  this,  it  may  appear,  being  the  only  fugi 
tive  form  of  currency,  has  at  least  upon  that  account  a  posi 
tive  value,  and  requires  to  be  guarded  with  greater  vigilance. 
The  comparison  thus  drawn,  however,  is  unjust ;  and  the 
appearance  a  deceptive  one.  There  is  a  difference  in  the 


56  MIND  AND   MONET 

two  cases,  but  it  points  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  real 
difference,  as  well  as  the  seeming  one,  springs  from  the  fact 
that  the  currency  of  money,  being  once  coined,  is  good  for  an 
indefinite  period,  and  for  an  indefinite  number  of  transac 
tions  ;  so  that  that  which  comes  into  the  hand  may  serve  in 
the  place  of  that  which  goes  out ;  while  the  coin  of  Thought, 
having  been  once  used,  is  thenceforth  useless  until  it  shall  be 
again  passed  through  the  mint  of  the  brain,  except  in  so  far 
as  it  may  happen  to  obtain  a  conventional  permanence  and 
value  by  "  passing  into  a  proverb,"  and  so  become  a  speci 
men  of  credit-currency  comparable  to  "  paper  money."  As 
"  circumstances  alter  cases,"  an  apposite  idea  is  (if  we  may 
coin  a  word  for  the  present  occasion)  un-coined  by  the  lapse 
of  the  occasion  to  which  it  was  strictly  appropriate,  and  re 
turned  into  the  bullion-state  or  raw  material  of  crude  thought : 
and  this  can  be  effectually  re-converted  into  the  intellectual 
coin,  only  at  the  moment  when  it  is  wanted  for  use,  since  in 
that  way  only  can  it  adequately  meet  the  then  present  cir 
cumstances  and  obligations,  and  justly  assume  the  dignity 
and  influence  of  undoubted  currency.  While,  therefore,  the 
only  solicitude  needful,  in  regard  to  the  currency  of  gold,  is, 
that  the  agent  should  keep  himself  within  the  region  of  action 
in  which  its  motion  is  indeed  one  of  circulation  and  not  one 
of  mere  outflow  ;  with  regard  to  the  currency  of  brain,  there 
is  the  additional  call  for  that  care  in  adapting  the  issue  to  the 
occasion,  which  may  make  it  efficient  in  all  cases  precisely 
according  to  the  demands  of  the  occasion.  The  importance 
consequent  upon  practical  fugaciousness  is  thus  really  assign 
able  to  the  currency  of  mind  in  a  greater  degree  than  to  that 
of  money. 

Second :  that  the  supply  of  either  currency  is  simply  de 
pendent  upon  the  demand,  and  as  it  were  produced  by  the 
demand. — With  regard  to  the  development  of  mind  which 
constitutes  the  supply  of  brain-currency,  this  position  is  suffi 
ciently  illustrated  and  fortified  by  those  pioneer,  and  therefore 
often  forgotten,  principles  of  metaphysics  and  of  common 


CONSIDERED  AS   CURRENCIES.  57 

sense ;  first,  that  the  actual  demand  for  thoughts  on  any 
known  subject  is  the  unequivocal  expression  of  a  power  to 
produce  such  thoughts  ;  and  second,  that  an  unknown  subject 
must  ever  be,  at  the  best,  but  as  a  mystical  phantom  lying 
out  of  the  reach  either  of  thought  or  of  definite  desire,  until 
the  mind  is  placed,  so  to  speak,  in  a  situation  near  enough 
and  clear  enough  for  its  partial  or  complete  apprehension  ;  that 

is,  until  it  becomes  partly  or  wholly  a  known  subject. 

The  adjustment  of  the  supply  to  the  demand  of  the  act 
ual  money  which  for  convenience  we  have  styled  gold-cur 
rency,  may  be  influenced  accidentally  by  extraneous  causes, 
such  for  example,  as  the  timely  expansion  of  the  supply  of 
bullion  in  our  own  age  :  but  here  as  in  the  former  case  its 
own  laws  are  at  least  generally  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  al 
though  operating  somewhat  more  indirectly  than  those  which 
regulate  the  "  floating  capital "  of  mind.  An  increased  de 
mand  not  extrarieously  provided  for,  will  increase  the  supply 
by  first  reducing  the  size  of  coins,  so  that  the  conventional 
value  of  the  whole  mass  of  currency  shall  be  augmented  to 
an  equality  with  the  want  of  the  community.  Under  a  de 
creased  demand,  this  process  would  of  course  be  simply 
reversed. 

Third :  that  they  may  both  be  counterfeited. — Surely  there 
is  nothing  paradoxical  in  this,  melancholy  as  the  allegation 
may  well  appear!  Base  coin  is  not  seldom  "  uttered"  in  the 
place  of  money  : — and  still  oftener  the  crude  or  corrupt  conceit 
of  an  undeveloped  or  unsound  intellect  makes  its  appearance 
as  a  spurious  brain-material,  which  assumes  in  its  outflow 
such  a  superficial  adaptation  to  acknowledged  needs,  or  such 
a  vague  resemblance  to  ideal  realities,  as  forms  it  into  decep 
tive  notions — mere  notions  or  counterfeit  ideas.  Books  and 
banks,  it  must  here  be  observed,  among  other  links  of  like 
ness,  are  too  apt  to  become  the  lurking-places  and  strong 
holds  of  the  corruptions  of  currency  which  ensue  in  either 
case,  when  the  means  are  coveted  and  cherished  as  ends. 

Fourth  :  that  they  are  both  of  only  temporary  importance, 


5 8  MIND   AND   MONEY 

as  being  agencies  which  compensate  for  imperfections  in  the 
present  nature  of  mankind. — A  man's  earnings  are  his  wages. 
These  wages  are  essentially  merely  the  claims  which  he  has 
upon  the  wealth  of  the  world,  for  having  in  some  measure 
done  his  duty  to  the  world,  as  in  the  sight  of  the  divine 
Maker  and  rightful  Master  of  the  world.  Money  is  originally 
valuable  to  its  holder  only  as  being  an  efficient  evidence  or 
recognized  law  by  which  the  world  at  large,  so  far  as  he  may 
be  brought  into  contact  with  it,  is  made  to  perceive  and  re 
gard  those  claims  until  they  are  fairly  met  and.  canceled. 
And  it  remains  to  be  truly  valuable  under  all  the  sophistica 
tions  and  perversions  of  custom,  only  in  so  far  as  it  is  still 
available  for  this  purpose.  It  is  thus  at  best  a  mere  substitute, 
and  too  often  a  lame  one,  for  that  clear  and  honest  memory  on 
the  one  part,  and  for  that  perfect  insight  and  openness  on  the 
other,  which  would  render  such  a  guarantee  superfluous  by 
directly  manifesting  and  promptly  ensuring  all  rightful  in 
dividual  claims. A  man's  thoughts  as  held  by  memory  are 

the  mere  record  of  the  impressions  which  he  has  derived  and 
deduced  from  his  experience  in  the  world,  and  are  accordingly 
tinctured  with  all  the  imperfections  or  peculiarities  (these 
terms  being  here  wholly  synonymous)  of  his  powers  of  ob 
servation.  When  these  disabilities  shall  be  escaped  from, 
there  will  be  no  farther  occasion  for  memory,  since  he  will 
see  all  things  and  judge  all  events,  which  claim  his  atten 
tion,  as  they  really  are,  without  overlooking  any  of  the  cir 
cumstances  or  relations  which  recollection  and  study  are  now 
called  upon  to  supply  so  imperfectly.  In  other  words,  thought 
and  memory  will  both  be  lost  or  merged  in  pure  insight,  and 
discussion,  in  pure  communion. 

Fifth  :  that  they  are  both  public  property,  and  of  pi  ivate 
applicability  only  so  far  as  private  interests  are  tributary  to 
public  interests. — This  proposition  is  obviously  to  some  extent 
involved  in  the  one  last  considered.  Not  only,  however,  is 
money  originally  the  silent  exponent  and  passive  administrator 
of  an  otherwise  latent  and  abortive  law  ;  but  legislation  ex- 


CONSIDERED  AS    CURRENCIES.  59 

pressly  adopts  it  as  a  public  institution,  by  guarding  the  in 
tegrity  of  the  coinage,  and  by  otherwise  securing  to  it  that 
authority  which  unstudied  custom  primarily  bestows  in  recog 
nizing  the  universality  of  natural  rights  to  the  accumulations 
of  actual  wealth  as  private  property.  The  public  obligation 
thus  incurred  is,  indeed,  often  spurned  or  slighted  by  those 
most  nearly  concerned,  who  are  apt  to  be  more  pleased  with 
the  influence  so  derived,  than  anxious  to  appreciate  the  origin 
and  nature  of  their  title  to  it.  For  an  authority  which  is 
confessedly  derived  entails  the  idea  of  responsibility  in  some 
direction,  and  this  is  sure  to  become  irksome  to  capricious 
tempers.  Happily,  however,  bright  examples  may  almost 
always  be  found  of  the  great  understanding  and  the  patient 
spirit*  which  can  cheerfully  accept  the  public  rank  thus  im 
parted  as  an  occasion  of  responsibility  as  well  as  a  means 

of  power. In  the  currency  of  Ideas,  as  has  already  been 

observed,  peculiarities  are  necessarily  imperfections,  pure 
thought  being  wholly  impersonal  or  dividual  in  its  character. 
It  is,  indeed,  by  virtue  of  its  inherent  dependence  upon  the 
supreme  Spirit  of  Love,  at  once  absolute  power  and  perfect 
impartiality,  and  so  the  very  substance  and  essence  of  all  law. 
Private  interpretation  is  obviously  incompatible  with  such  an 
institution  as  this  ;  and  the  pride  of  opinion  is  therefore  doubt 
less  yet  more  insane  than  the  pride  of  purse. 

Prudent  reader !  let  us  not  rashly  descend  into  the  dark 
mines  of  subjective  research,  nor  linger  too  fondly  even  among 
the  grateful  shades  and  romantic  beauties  which  disguise  their 
dangerous  entrance.  Let  us  leave  their  precious  ores  and 
massive  realities,  with  their  associated  stifling  exhalations, 
to  fulfill  their  own  course  of  secret  development  and  gradual 
revelation  in  obedience  to  the  fiat  of  the  all-sustaining  and 
e .  er-acting  Creator ;  while  we  devote  our  powers  to  our  own 
parts  of  duty  in  the  more  glaring  and  shifting  but  living 
scenes,  which  are  at  once  the  surface,  the  purpose  and  the 
superstructure  of  those  abstract  foundations.  Nevertheless, 

*  PROV.  xiv.  29. 


60  MIND  AND  MONET. 

let  us  not  too  timidly  turn  our  eyes  from  the  meagre  skeleton 
of  truth  which  thence  bursts  forth  upon  our  passing  gaze,  nor 
regard  it  as  but  the  monstrous  creature  of  a  dream,  or  a  thing 
essentially  devoid  of  meaning.  Surely,  its  dead  and  empty 
but  inexorable  form  may  be  a  fit  memento  of  the  incompe- 
tency  of  the  bare  laws  of  matter  and  of  mind  to  meet  the 
aspirations  of  the  soul !  Surely,  it  points  the  watchful  eye 
beyond  and  above  these  limitations  of  fate,  to  such  an  un 
selfish  rule  of  enjoyment,  as  may  secure  us,  through  life's 
protracted  crisis  and  in  the  mysterious  portals  of  death,  from 
man's  extremest  and  most  typical  errors,  even  that  of  the 
greedy  miser,  and  that  of  the  groping  mystic ! 


THE    AVENUES    OF    WEALTH. 


>Tis  vain  to  seek  for  source  or  cause, 

Except  through  avenues  or  laws  : 
And  still  all  causes  more  remote  appear, 
The  more  their  outward  workings  are  made  clear. 

'Tis  so  with  wealth :  we  seek  its  source 
Most  wisely,  through  its  open  course ; 

From  disappointment  guarded,  when  we  find 

Its  seat  still  baffling  the  pursuit  of  mind. 

The  senses  and  the  appetites 

Are  simple  modes  and  ready  lights, 
Through  which  we  well  may  be  content  to  reach 
Such  laws  of  wealth  as  man  to  man  can  teach. 

As  prime  receptacles  and  guides, 

In  these  earth's  happiness  resides  : 
And  all  the  laws  their  genuine  lessons  urge, 
In  guidance  to  the  perfect  bliss  converge. 

Of  light,  and  sound,  and  form,  and  space, 
One  sense  *  for  each  conveys  the  grace 
To  mind  :  the  rest  are  but  one  varied  touch, 
Which  serves  the  body,  not  the  mind  as  such. 

Their  appetites  to  these  belong, 

Each  fitting  each,  or  weak  or  strong : 
And  all  the  senses  join  in  one,  of  time, 
To  which  one  appetite,  for  work,  must  rhyme. 

And  since  the  healthy  man  is  one 

In  what  is  known  and  what  is  done, 
By  curb  and  concert  all  may  be  controlled, 
Save  morbid  appetites,  like  that  for  gold. 

*  Seeing,  Hearing,  Grasp,  or  Co-ordinative  Touch,  and  Muscular  Resistance,  are  here 
assumed,  as  modes  of  sensation  consisting  in  the  communication  of  the  imponderable  prin 
ciples  of  matter ;  as  the  others,  namely,  Smell,  Taste,  and  Simple  Touch,  or  Touch  Proper, 
do,  in  that  of  its  atomic  suhstance. 

61 


THE    SURFEIT    OF    SENTIMENT. 


"  Then  will  I  turn  to  the  people  a  pure  language,  that  they  may  all  call 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  serve  Him  with  one  consent." — ZEPH.  iii.  9. 

r  I  ^HE  readers  of  a  popular  magazine*  were  recently  en- 
X  tertained  with  a  satirical  article  on  the  subject  of  book- 
making,  entitled  "  The  Cadmean  Madness."  The  force  of 
the  argument  lay  in  the  present  evident  tendency  of  the  brain 
power  of  civilization  to  embody  itself  in  literature,  preferen 
tially  and  preponderatingly  over  any  other  mode  of  expres 
sion,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  generally  observed  principle 
of  counteraction  and  consequent  diversion.  The  most  purely 
intellectual  mode  of  expression  being  the  most  inviting  for 
those  who  are  seeking  the  widest  possible  audience  for  in 
tellectual  revelations,  word-work  must  with  such  supplant 
other  sorts  of  labor  to  the  exact  extent  in  which  they  may 
overestimate  the  importance  and  novelty  of  their  messages. 
Thinkers  are  evidently  liable  so  to  overestimate,  in  proportion 
as  they  may  fail  to  appreciate  the  lasting  force  of  the  ancient 
precepts,  that  "  there  is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun,"  and 
that  "  wisdom  crieth  without ;  she  uttereth  her  voice  in  the 
streets."  Forgetting,  accordingly,  that  the  object  of  the  ad 
vocate  of  truth  is  rather  to  clear  his  own  hands  of  the  blood 
of  all  men,  than  to,  gain  proselytes  to  any  system  of  doctrinal 
ideas,  like  the  dog  at  the  river's  brink,  we  are  prone  to  sacri 
fice  certain  attainment  in  catching  at  imaginary  advantage, 
with  no  other  result  than  that  of  disturbing  the  otherwise 
placid  current  of  social  thought.  Past  and  present  experience 

*   The  Atlantic  Monthly,  xiv.  265. 
62 


THE   SUKFEIT   OF  SENTIMENT.  63 

might  seem  to  prove  that  "  all  the  Lord's  people"*  cannot 
hope  to  be  "  prophets,"  without  incurring  the  fate  of  the  dis 
appointed  quadruped,  and  filling  the  channels  of  mental 
communication  with  wasted  materials  of  nutriment. 

A  little  reflection  must  discover  the  truth  that  this  is  one  of 
those  superficial  evils  which  may  be  said  to  cure  themselves. 
One  of  the  older  Biblical  books  sufficiently  indicates  the 
manner  in  which,  to  the  end  of  time,  all  additions  to  the  re 
vealed  code  were  to  be'  made.  The  good  word  must  be 
"  fitly  spoken."  Truth  is  never  in  such  desperate  danger 
that  it  is  necessary  to  sacrifice  decency  for  its  safety.  Adap 
tations  of  mode,  and  time,  and  place,  are  all  essential  to  a 
genuine  prophecy.  The  true  teacher  of  men  will  no  more 
cater  to  popular  tastes  in  his  choice  of  phraseology,  than  he 
will  hasten  his  utterance  in  deference  to  current  apprehen 
sions  of  a  famine  of  the  Word,  or  than  he  will  attempt  to 
reach  the  antipodes  with  the  sound  of  his  voice.  Compar 
ison,  that  never  failing  light  of  worldlings,  will  clearly  enough 
and  soon  enough  manifest  the  difference  between  the  false 
teacher  and  the  true  ;  and  the  instinctive  tendency  of  every 
human  sou!  u  to  see  itself  as  others  see  it,"  will  complete  the 
cure.  Let  us  rest  assured  that  no  Malthusian  theories  are 
necessary  to  stifle  the  progeny  of  mind,  and  that  no  literature 
can  permanently  prevail  which  is  not  built  upon  "  thoughts 
t  Kit  breathe,"  and  composed  of  "  words  that  burn." 
*  NUM.  xi.  29. 

6*  K 


ECCENTRICITIES. 


As  springs  of  action  arc  the  strength  of  life, 
So  inward  discord  fosters  outward  strife  : 
The  lack  of  concert  in  our  thoughts  and  aims 
Supports  the  only  grief  which  rightly  shames. 

To  hopes  concentred  in  the  Highest  Good, 
All  scenes  and  changes  lend  a  genial  food, 
As  ripening  ears  could  erst  the  hunger  stay 
Of  Truth's  disciples  plucking  by  the  way. 

Upon  that  Rock  of  refuge  such  repose, 
From  which  the  crystal  current  ever  flows 
Which  fills  with  harmony  each  faithful  soul, 
And  quickens  all  into  a  healthy  whole. 

Alas  !  that  such  rich  boon  should  e'er  be  spurned-^ 
That  boon  on  Calvary's  height  divinely  earned 
For  all  who  imitate  the  Heavenly  Will 
Which  wrought  its  wondrous  work  by  being  stiK. 

But  since  the  olden  taint  infects  these  frames 
Until  that  miracle  their  waste  reclaims, 
The  willing  spirit  may  perchance  obey 
The  while  the  body  lingers  on  the  way. 

Feelings  and  powers  combined  our  nature  throng ; 
Each  sense  acute  implies  an  impulse  strong. 
Some  strong,  some  weak,  in  connate  pairs  they  move, 
And  all  our  foibles  by  their  frolics  prove. 

One  finds  temptation  in  the  love  of  smiles ; 
Another,  meat  more  readily  beguiles  ; 
One  works  with  words  to  rivet  rules  well-known ; 
While  one  may  seem  to  be  a  faultless  drone. 


HEALTHY   ZEST. 


"Whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child,  shall 
in  no  wise  enter  therein." — LUKE  xviii.  17. 

"f^HILDHOOD  and  youth  are  vanity."  All  the  graces 
V_/  of  the  outward  creation,  being  fugitive  in  their  nature, 
must  ever  be  sources  of  disappointment  to  those  whose  natural 
desires  are  not  subjected  to  that  spiritual  and  self-forsaking 
faith,  by  which  the  precarious  enjoyment  of  the  present  is 
made  subservient  to  the  sure  hope  of  the  future.  Only  by 
virtue  of  the  genuine  industry  which  thus  begins  from  within, 
can  the  enslaving  and  separating  power  of  fleshly  lust  be  ex 
changed  for  the  emancipating  and  uniting  power  of  spiritual 
love,  and  the  soul  be  qualified  for  communion  with  the  en 
compassing  cloud  of  witnesses  who  are  secretly  exhorting  it 
to  "  look  through  nature  up  to  nature's  God." 

But  although  childhood  or  youth  is  thus  necessarily  defina 
ble  as  an  evanescent  and  deceptive  aspect  of  life,  the  revela 
tion  of  the  present  unites  with  the  testimony  of  the  past  in 
asserting,  that  it  is  upon  the  whole  an  enduring  and  control 
ling  influence.  As  an  aspect  of  universal  nature  at  least,  it 
is  permanent ;  and  no  other  natural  phenomenon  is  found  to 
embody  at  once  so  charmingly  and  so  powerfully,  the  Divine 
Wisdom  which  is  both  ancient  and  new.  As  mankind  make 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  the  goal  of  their  worldly  career,  they 
will  doubtless  ever  have  occasion  to  advert  to  the  language  of 
the  latest  childhood  as  one  of  the  latest  voices  from  heaven. 

There  is  in  the  loose  philosophy  and  theology  of  childhood, 
but  little  of  the  mystical  element  which  characterizes  the  more 

65 


66  HEALTHT  ZEST. 

coherent  theories  of  our  later  years.  The  creed  of  boys  and 
girls  is  prevailingly  of  a  practical  cast.  The  primary  power 
of  external  perception,  which  is  led  by  rambling  desire  and 
fed  by  spontaneous  sensation,  is  more  vivid  with  them  than 
the  secondary  one  of  ideal  comparison,  which  depends  rather 
upon  steadfast  attention  and  deliberate  recollection.  Abstract 
principles  are  by  them  either  unattainable,  or  are  seized  with 
a  directness  of  intuition  which  the  intervention  of  words  could 
only  obscure.  What  is  universally  plausible  to  them,  is  likely 
to  be  indisputably  true. 

Children  are  pre-eminently  social  beings.  Their  very  bash- 
fulness  may  be  regarded  as  but  an  expression  of  their  love  for 
the  society  from  which  they  are  morbidly  afraid  of  excluding 
themselves,  by  failure  in  performing  their  part  as  members 
of  the  social  compact.  If  anything,  therefore,  in  the  spon 
taneous  policy  of  childhood  is  pre-eminently  deserving  of 
consideration  by  manhood,  such  must  be  the  rule,  if  the  rule 
can  be  found,  by  which  they  maintain  so  largely  that  pacific, 
and  yet  commanding  grace  of  sociability,  of  which  manhood 
so  often  and  so  readily  loses,  not  only  the  possession,  but  the 
appreciation. 

There  is  one,  and  only  one,  invariable  ground  of  exclusion 
from  the  privileges  of  youthful  society.  He  who  "  cannot 
take  fun,"  and  he  alone,  is  the  universal  outlaw.  This  is 
evidently  not  because  children  especially  delight  in  inflicting 
pain  or  in  imputing  shame;  but  because  they  well  know, 
without  an  appeal  to  abstractions,  that  the  maker  of  sport 
will  make  himself  more  ridiculous  than  the  taker  of  it,  if  he 
forsakes  that  ground  of  plausibility  to  their  unsophisticated 
perceptions,  which  is  generally  identical  with  the  ground  of 
truth.  The  morbidly  sensitive  culprit  is  condemned  by  them, 
substantially  because  he  prefers  a  transient  and  relaxing  re 
pose  in  the  hallucinations  of  self-hood,  to  the  more  enduring 
and  invigorating  joy  which  they  find  upon  the  field  of  external 
nature,  in  the  pursuit  of  fellowship,  if  not  in  the  positive  sac 
rifice  of  self. 


HEALTHY  ZEST.  67 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  even  the  rule  of 
sociability  is  one  rather  of  compromise  than  of  comprehen 
sion.  The  fellowship  which  is  not  based  upon  self-sacrificing 
Love,  must  originate  in  a  supreme  regard  for  individual  com 
fort,  however  enlarged  may  be  its  appreciation  of  the  natural 
sources  of  that  comfort.  Society,  being  a  sure  means  of  hap 
piness  only  as  it  may  supply  individual  deficiency  in  the  pur 
suit  of  truth  and  performance  of  duty,  must  disappoint  the 
expectation  of  those  who  make  it  the  ultimate  object  of  pur 
suit.  Limiting  their  aspirations  for  good  by  the  measure  of 
past  experience,  such  must  sooner  or  later  find  their  moral 
development  outstripped  by  that  of  more  youthful  or  more 
self-sacrificing  associates,  and  become  in  their  turn  the  objects 
of  reproach  or  of  pity.  The  pursuit  of  pleasure  even  here 
cannot  safely  in  any  degree  supplant  that  of  duty.  In  social 
converse,  as  in  every  other  species  of  occupation,  there  may 
be  an  eager  catching  at  comfort,  which  must  be  compensated 
for  by  the  hearty  taking  of  shame,  even  though  it  come  in  the 
form  of  open  ridicule  or  rebuke,  before  the  lover  of  pleasure 
can  rank  with  the  lovers  of  truth.  Apparent  lapses  or  actual 
short-comings  may  occur  even  in  those  who  have  '"bought 
the  truth,"  by  reason  of  constitutional  infirmity,  as  age  shall 
blunt  the  perceptions  and  exhaust  the  powers  of  body  and 
mind  which  have  been  authoritatively  and  comprehensively 
characterized  as  the  "  earthen  vessel,"  and  through  which 
alone  the  flow  of  their  spiritual  life  can  be  manifested  to  mor 
tal  eyes.  But  although  their  innocency  of  purpose  may  thus 
fail  to  prevent  inconsistency  of  conduct,  a  watchful  humility 
will  secure  such  from  surprise  and  confusion  upon  the  occa 
sion  of  its  exposure ;  and  their  steadfast  patience  will  then 
demonstrate  that  they  have  indeed  not  lost  "  the  dew  of  their 
youth."  Far  otherwise  must  it  be  with  the  unhappy  com 
promisers  who  are  at  once  unavoidably  sensitive  to  ridicule, 
and  willfully  ignorant  of  those  spiritual  riches,  which  infin 
itely  surpass  the  transferable  treasures  of  intellectual  and  sen 
sual  experience.  Anxious,  it  may  be,  both  to  "  endure  hard- 


68  HEALTH T  ZEST. 

ness"  and  to  taste  pleasure,  they  can  do  neither,  because  their 
love  even  of  social  converse  and  human  approbation,  is  only 
another  name  for  selfishness.  Having  never  submitted  to  the 
righteous  fear  which  would  induce  self-denial,  and  would  end 
in  self-sacrifice,  they  are  necessarily  strangers  to  the  restoring 
and  sustaining  Love  which  is  another  name  for  the  Divine 
Source  and  Substance  of  all  blessings.  Rashly  expending 
the  light  and  life  which  have  been  lent  to  them  as  an  earnest 
of  promised  good,  in  closing  the  doors  and  windows  of  their 
hearts  against  the  influence  of  heavenly  grace,  they  are  so  far 
necessarily  incurring  the  doom  of  u  the  blackness  of  darkness 
for  ever." 

The  Light  of  Divine  Love  is  an  all-penetrating  as  well  as 
an  all-powerful  agency  on  behalf  of  its  devoted  observers.  It 
is  not  only  their  rule  of  action,  but  also  the  rule  by  which 
they  judge  of  actions.  "  He  that  doeth  truth  cometh  to  the 
light,  that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest  that  they  are 
wrought  in  God."  In  it  alone  can  we  hope  fully  to  harmon 
ize  fact  with  theory.  In  it  the  errors  and  infirmities  of  the 
creature  will  not  be  allowed  to  withstand  the  progress  of  uni 
versal  truth,  nor  the  fancied  dignity  of  human  character  to 
enter  into  competition  with  the  glory  of  the  beneficent  and 
omnipresent  Creator  and  Saviour.  "Wisdom  crieth  with 
out,  she  uttereth  her  voice  in  the  streets."  The  inexhaustible 
treasury  of  Eternal  Truth  is  ever  open  to  those  who  bring 
childlike  candor  to  the  work  of  investigation  and  demonstra 
tion.  "In  thy  light,"  said  the  royal  Psalmist,  "we  shall  see 
light."  So,  in  the  language  of  the  immediate  heir  of  his  dig 
nity  and  wisdom,  "  The  path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining 
light  which  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 
So  also,  the  blessed  Antitype  of  all  sublunary  royalty,  who  is 
at  once  the  Captain  of  Salvation  and  the  Prince  of  Peace,  in 
his  human  person  enjoined,  "  Walk  in  the  light  while  ye  have 
the  light,  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  the  light."  Let  us 
Also,  in  contemplation  of  the  almost  equal  delusiveness  and 
iransitoriness  of  mental  and  of  physical  attainments,  as  com- 


HEALTHY  ZEST.  69 

pared  with  the  ineffable  graces  of  spiritual  life,  remember  the 
prayer  and  injunction  of  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
warning  of  the  mother  of  Jesus  ; — "  That  God  may  give  unto 
you  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation,  the  eyes  of  your 
understanding  being  enlightened,  that  ye  may  know  what  is 
the  hope  of  his  calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of 
his  inheritance  in  the  saints."  "  Charge  them  that  are  rich 
in  this  world  that  they  be  not  high-minded,  nor  trust  in  un 
certain  riches,  but  in  the  living  God  who  giveth  us  richly  all 
things  to  enjoy."  "  He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good 
things  ;  and  the  rich  he  hath  sent  empty  away." 


EQUANIMITY. 


As  sun-down  rays  seem  loosely  to  ascend 
Expanding  from  the  zenith  to  the  poles, 

Anon  to  stay  their  flight,  and  earthward  bend, 
Aithough  no  earthly  tie  their  course  controls; 

So  human  life  hath  its  meridian-line, 

Beyond  whose  vault  the  hope  may  never  climb 

Of  him,  who  bears  not  in  his  heart's  design 
The  scenes  which  lie  beyond  the  world  of  time. 

The  amplest  sky  which  bounds  the  worldling's  ken, 
Is  but  the  glancing  from  the  general  mind 

Of  that  pervading  light,  in  which  true  men 
Fulfill  the  high  career  by  God  designed. 

Its  loftiest  goal  is  thus  a  finite  aim : 

A  talent  buried  in  the  earth,  its  wealth : 

And  by  its  dark  horizon  veiled  in  shame, 
Its  hopes  ambitious  disappear  with  stealth. 

And,  to  the  sense  which  reads  them  from  below, 
Those  earnest  aspirations  show  like  fate, 

By  which  the  freeman  seeks  all  truth  to  know,* 
And  marks  its  bearing  on  the  world's  estate. 

But  as  to  eyes  with  unrestricted  reach 

Which  could  above  the  mists  of  earth  emerge, 

The  constant  beams  another  view  would  teach, 
In  that  they  neither  scatter  nor  converge ; 

So  can  the  soul  unfettered  trace  the  course 

By  which  the  Christian  proves  his  lifelong  aim, 

As  undisturbed  by  the  degrading  force 
Of  rash  ambition  and  retreating  shame. 

*  "  He  will  guide  you  into  all  truth."    JOHN  xvi.  13. 
70 


THE  CRIMINALITY  OF  COVETOUSNESS. 


"  Wrath  is  cruel,  and  anger  is  outrageous ;  but  who  is  able  to  stand  before 
envy  ?" — PROV.  xxvii.  4. 

I  DOUBT  not  that  other  students  of  the  morality  of  the 
Apostle  Paul  have  felt  with  me  some  temporary  surprise, 
in  contemplation  of  the  emphasis  with  which  he  condemns 
covetousness,  as  a  sin  which  is  not  to  be  named  among  pro 
fessing  Christians.  The  ready  inference  I  think  is,  that  he 
considered  it  so  glaring  a  fault,  that  it  should  not  be  even 
thought  of  as  a  possible  thing  among  such  people.  After 
allowing  for  the  fact  that  the  profession  of  a  spiritual  faith 
was  a  less  fashionable,  and  therefore  a  more  significant  thing 
then  than  it  may  now  be,  I  think  that  others  than  myself 
among  the  modern  readers  of  the  "  weighty  and  powerful 
letters,"  must  have  been  at  a  loss  to  appreciate  his  language 
on  this  subject,  so  long  as  they  may  have  regarded  the  covet 
ousness  of  that  age  as  identical  with  the  mere  desire  of  pecu 
niary  accumulation  so  common  in  our  own.  A  slight  com 
parison  of  the  social  organization  and  institutions  of  these  so 
distant  epochs,  must,  I  think,  suffice  to  suggest  a  material 
change  in  the  meaning  of  the  term. 

The  simple  truth  of  the  matter  I  conceive  to  be,  that  the 
"covetousness"  of  that  day  was  more  inseparable  from  the 
taint  of  jealousy  and  envy,  than  is  our  modern  "  acquisitive 
ness."  Although  considerations  of  worldly  wealth  then  doubt 
less  had  a  large  influence  in  defining  the  social  position  of 
individuals,  there  was  not  then  the  same  interval  which  we 
now  find  between  the  extremes  of  the  social  scale.  There 


72          THE   CRIMINALITY  OF  COVETOUSNESS. 

were  neither  moneyed  corporations  for  the  investment  and 
seeming  secretion  of  surplus  capital,  nor  eleemosynary  insti 
tutions  for  the  systematic  support  of  an  outcast,  pauper  popu 
lation.  Neither  redundancy  nor  destitution  seems  to  have  been 
possible  to  the  extent  in  which  they  prevail  in  our  more  com 
plicated,  if  not  more  artificial,  state  of  society.  The  money- 
seeker  accordingly  had  neither  the  plea  which  he  now  finds 
on  the  one  hand,  in  the  fear  of  destitution  and  disgraceful 
dependence ;  nor  that  which  is  no  less  certainly,  though  per 
haps  more  vaguely,  presented  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  con 
sideration  that  the  mysterious  gain  which  he  grasps  at  is  as 
yet,  practically,  the  property  of  nobody  in  particular.  To 
seek  for  an  increase  of  wealth  otherwise  than  by  a  direct 
development  of  natural  resources,  was  therefore  then  more 
obviously  than  now,  to  plot  to  deprive  another  man  of  that 
which  was  justly  his  own,  without  any  extenuating  pretext  of 
necessity.  The  only  conceivable  pretext  being  the  love  of 
social  pre-eminence  for  its  own  sake,  or  some  still  baser  desire 
whose  fulfillment  must  involve  manifest  loss  and  consequent 
degradation  to  a  fellow-being,  I  cannot  avoid  the  inference 
that  jealousy  or  envy  is  really  the  vice,  which,  under  the  name 
of  covetousness,  is  permanently  branded  as  infamous  in  the 
third  verse  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 


INTEREST. 


T^UE  language  is  a  valid  thing 
To  him  who  cares  to  know  it, 

Making  the  very  parrot  sing, 
And  seem  to  be  a  poet 

But  emptily,  or  shamefully, 

The  forms  of  language  flourish, 

For  him  who  will  not  deign  to  see 
The  lessons  they  would  nourish. 

His  dictionary  binding  him 

With  literal  injunctions, 
He  counts  it  but  an  idle  whim, 

That  speech  hath  living  functions. 

To  some  words,  such  as  Interest, 

He  finds  a  plural  meaning  ; 
And  grieves  that  things  are  ill-exprest, 

Though  loth  to  seem  o'er-weening. 

Ah  no  I  let  none  be  over-wise ! 

Much  wisdom  knows  much  sorrow. 
But  still,  'twere  well  some  small  supplies 

To  own,  where  none  can  borrow. 

And  Interest  means,  a  profit  pure  ; 

The  food  of  strength  and  beauty ; 
An  income  from  investment  sure  ; 

A  consequence  of  duty. 

A\]  interest  is  and  ever  shall 

Be  one,  as  thus  we  learn  it ; 
And  principle  and  principal 

Mav  well  unite  to  earn  it 


CHRISTIAN    OPTIMISM. 


"According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you." — MATT.  ix.  29. 
"  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  .  .  .  that  your  joy  might  be  full." 
—JOHN  xv.  ii. 

THE  famous  maxim  of  Aristotle,  that  "  Nature  abhors  a 
vacuum,"  may  be  regarded  as  the  nearest  substitute 
which  his  sagacity  could  supply  for  the  simple  and  sublime 
doctrine  of  the  omnipresence  of  God  in  nature. 
The  atmosphere  was  not  indeed  unknown  to 
him  ;  but  being  known  only  upon  the  princi 
ple  of  comparison  as  an  element  of  unbounded  freedom,  he 
could  not  readily  conceive  of  its  being  subject  to  any  princi 
ple  of  constraint  within  itself.  It  was  even  occasionally  re 
garded  in  the  elaborate  but  loose  system  of  Grecian  mythol 
ogy,  as  the  very  embodiment  of  the  Supreme  Being.  The 
idea  of  its  being  a  passive  subject  of  mechanical  force  is 
plainly  irreconcilable  with  a  view  which  exalted  it  to  the 
dignity  of  an  abstract  law,  if  not  to  a  divine  independence 
of  law. 

It  was  thus  that  this  master  of  physical  philosophy  account 
ed  in  the.  realm  of  physics,  for  the  universal  phenomenon  of 
all  existence,  that  capacity  implies  craving.  The  more  in- 
veteiate  difficulties  of  metaphysicians  in  defining  the  funda 
mental  principles  of  their  science,  seem  to  have  originated  in 
a  somewhat  similar  mode  ;  the  principal  difference  lying  in 
the  accession  of  an  independent  will  to  the  dependent  capa 
city,  and  the  consequent  complication  of  all  subordinate  phe 
nomena.  Consciousness,  apart  from  volition,  is  evidently 
74 


CHRISTIAN  OPTIMISM.  75 

nothing  more  than  the  satisfaction  or  disappointment  of  a 
craving  capacity.  It  is  the  co-existence  therewith  of  a  will, 
or  power  of  election  which  constitutes  the  conscious  subject 
an  influential  agent,  responsible,  under  God,  to  himself  and 
to  other  intelligences  for  his  use  of  that  will. 

The  course,  if  not  the  source,  of  modern 
metaphysical   and    theological    controversy   is       Versatility      of 

11-11  •  r,*  Faith,  as  the  prin- 

weli  illustrated  in  the  different  constitutions  cipie  of  progress, 
of  the  English  and  German  national  minds, 
as  revealed  in  some  discordancies  in  the  national  languages. 
In  the  English  tongue  the  word  Faith  is  not  always  synony 
mous  with  the  word  Belief,  being  distinctively  applied  to  the 
conventional  idea  of  a  scriptural  meaning  of  the  original 
Greek  term,  different  from,  and  possibly  opposed  to,  any  be 
lief  which  can  arise  independently  of  written  revelation. 
The  German  mind  appears  to  be  either  incapable  of  adopting 
this  development  of  doctrine,  or  to  reject  it  as  a  mere  tech 
nical  redundancy.  So  far  as  revelation  may  be  regarded  as 
an  ever  new  experience,  practically  limited  only  by  the  in 
capacity  of  its  recipients  to  appreciate  its  omnipresent  and 
otherwise  omnipotent  Source,  the  German  usage  is  evidently 
preferable  on  the  grounds  of  independence  and  simplicity. 
The  German  tongue  also  ignores  the  English  distinction  of 
the  scriptural  "'  miracle,"  from  the  colloquial  "  wonder." 
Possibly  both  distinctions  may  have  originated  in  an  excessive 
deference,  on  the  part  of  the  less  speculative  nation,  to  the 
cautionary  precept  of  the  learned  apostle,  "  not  to  think 
above  that  which  is  written."  Surely  it  must  be  a  servile, 
and  in  the  end  a  suicidal,  deference,  which  would  identify 
the  writing  with  the  thing  written.  The  one  is  but  the  visi 
ble  sign  ;  the  other  is  the  invisible  but  multiform  substance. 
It  is  evidently  this  substance  which  the  inquirer  is  cautioned 
against  disregarding,  upon  the  simple  ground  that  inconsist 
ency  proves  error.  Capriciousness  must  be  excluded  ;  but 
versatility,  being  essential  to  faith  as  the  secret  principle  of 
formal  development  or  obvious  progress,  is  not  only  compat- 
7* 


76  CII1USTIAN  OPTIMISM. 

ible  with,  but  is  actually  inseparable  from,  the  maintenance 
of  spiritual  truth  ;  and  the  very  literalists  who  thus  oppose  it, 
most  evidently  condemn  themselves  in  the  thing  which  they 
allow. 

"  Hast  thou  faith?    Have  it  to  thyself  before 
Faith   definitely,     God.     Happy  is  he  that  condemneth  not  him- 

or  objectively,  iden-  .  .  .. 

tical  with  Volition,  se^  in  that  thing  which  he  alloweth.  •  All 
safe  theorizing  concerning  life  and  happiness 
must  begin  with  the  duties  and  demands  of  the  individual 
man.  An  independent  faith  is  the  only  faith  which  is  scrip- 
turally  endorsed  as  a  consistent  and  saving  faith.  When, 
accordingly,  we  consider  the  fewness  of  the  elements  which 
enter  into  an  ultimate  analysis  of  human  nature,  and  the  rad 
ical  importance  of  faith  as  a  principle  of  conduct,  it  becomes 
difficult  to  affix  any  universal  value  to  that  term,  which  may 
not  be  equally  well  conveyed  by  the  more  familiar  term  Be 
lief,  or  the  more  precise  term  Volition.  If  belief  in  concep 
tion,  or  volition  in  action,  be  in  all  cases  a  mere  act  of  election 
between  competing  spiritual  influences,  its  only  independence 
must  lie  in  the  circumstance,  that  the  submission  of  the  agent 
is  self-directed.  Arrogance  is  plainly  precluded  by  such  a 
view,  and  responsibility  is  not  ignored.  If  the  power  of 
divine  inspiration  can  be  thus  certainly  admitted  and  secured 
as  the  animating  principle  of  characters  which  are  most  com 
plicated  in  the  details,  and  most  diversified  in  the  peculiarities, 
of  their  constitution,  what  need  have  we  to  seek  for  any  far 
ther  definition  of  faith,  or  any  farther  explanation  of  its  ever 
miraculous  efficacy?  If  truth  is  one  and  all-satisfying  in  its 
nature,  and  the  power  of  apprehending  it  thus  open  to  all 
mankind,  is  not  every  capacity  and  every  craving,  both  of  the 
individual  and  oi  the  social  nature  in  all  men,  abundantly 
provided  for?  What  remains  for  any  to  do  in  their  own  be 
half,  but  to  k'  seek  God  while  He  may  be  found,"  to  u  call 
upon  Him  while  he  is  near,"  and  to  "resist  the  Devil"  that 
he  may  "  flee  from  "  thc-m  ? 

*  ROM.  xiv.  22. 


CHRISTIAN  OPTIMISM.  77 

Let  us  however  be  always  ready  to  prove 
our  faith  by  « that  which  is  written."  The  ™?e*eeHgi°n'  ^ 
true  fossils  of  language  testify  distinctly  to  the 
unity,  and  permanence,  and  ever-progressive  development  of  a 
divine  plan  in  the  ordering  of  human  affairs  ;  and  their  testi 
mony  to  that  effect  is  more  important  and  more  eloquent  than 
that  of  geological  revelation  as  to  the  history  of  the  material 
world,  by  as  much  as  the  life  of  conscious  mind  is  more  noble 
than  that  of  vegetative  growth  and  of  brute  instinct.  Witness 
the  word  of  the  ancient  prophet*  upon  the  true  development 
of  faith  in  works,  and  the  practical  spirituality  of  the  lesson 
of  life.  "  Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow 
myself  before  the  high  God?  Shall  I  come  before  Him  with 
burnt  offerings,  with  calves  of  a  year  old?  Will  the  Lord  be 
pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or  with  ten  thousands  of 
rivers  of  oil?  Shall  I  give  my  first  born  for  my  transgres 
sion,  the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul?  He  hath 
showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good  ;  and  what  doth  the  Lord 
require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to 
walk  humbly  with  thy  God?"  The  doctrine  of  the  native  su 
periority  of  the  soul  is  implied  in  the  very  idea  of  its  exist 
ence,  since  the  very  rudest  conceptions  of  an  invisible  world 
must  be  confirmed,  if  not  suggested,  by  the  observed  incom- 
petency  of  material  phenomena  to  govern  even  themselves. 
The  responsibility  for  sin,  in  and  through  the  consequent 
consciousness  of  shame  in  the  sinner,  is  the  secret  source  of 
all  the  false  doctrines  of  Atheism  and  Materialism.  By  shut 
ting  our  eyes  to  the  light  of  the  spiritual  world,  we  may  tem 
porarily  ignore  its  existence,  and  suppress  the  alarm  of  a  dis 
turbed  conscience.  But  the  cravings  of  an  immortal  nature 
will  not  the  less  continue  to  be  felt,  and  as  the  inevitable  con 
sequence  of  our  self-imposed  limitation  we  will  then  seek  to 
satisfy  them  with  the  beggarly  elements  of  outward  experi 
ence.  Thus  with  a  rebellious  resistance  to  the  divine  author 
ity  of  Truth  as  measurably  manifested  in  the  law  of  con- 
*  MICAH  vi.  6,  7,  8. 


7S  CHRISTIAN  OPTIMISM. 

science,  the  very  possibility  of  contentment  is  destroyed,  and 
the  willful  transgressor  becomes  a  willful  complainer.  The 
denial  of  responsibility,  he  finds,  will  not  save  him  from  the 
fate  of  suffering.  He  has  no  hope  of  happiness,  save  in  re 
tracing  the  wanderings  of  his  will,  as  the  despised  and  reject 
ed  "Sun  of  Righteousness"  may  still  at  his  cry  arise  in  his 
conscience  "  with  healing  in  his  wings."  So,  learning  to  re 
gard  the  soul  as  the  appointed  custodian  of  his  outward  life, 
he  will  not  only  have  to  acknowledge  that  it  has  been  the 
subject  of  sin  and  the  seat  of  suffering ;  but  also  that,  as  the 
body  is  "  brought  under  and  kept  in  subjection"  it  is  redeem 
ed  from  the  power  of  the  spiritual  enemy,  who  can  beset  it 
only  through  the  infirmity  of  the  flesh,  and  made  a  partaker 
of  that  kingdom  which  "  is  righteousness  and  peace,  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost/' 

"  What  I  must  do,"  writes  a   cotemporary 

^Resulting    assur-      teache]%  *     u  Js     the     question     wnicn      concerns 

me,  and  not  what  the  people  think."  May  we 
so  keep  the  first  principles  of  experience  ever  in  view,  as  to 
be  able  not  only  to  consult  them  readily  in  the  determination 
of  our  own  career,  but  to  appeal  to  them  boldly  in  demon 
stration  of  the  hope  which  is  in  us,  at  whatsoever  risk  of  being 
charged  with  offensive  dogmatism  by  caviling  critics !  If 
we  have  any  thing  to  say,  let  us  pass  by  the  complainers,  and 
address  ourselves  to  the  inquirers  as  those  with  whom  we  are 
more  likely  to  communicate  to  mutual  advantage.  "  We 
cannot  but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard," 
was  the  testimony  of  Peter  and  John  to  the  Jewish  rulers  who 
imprisoned  and  threatened  them.  "And  now,  Lord,  behold 
their  threatenings,  and  grant  unto  thy  servants  that  with  all 
boldness  they  may  speak  thy  word,"  was  the  prayer  of  the 
Church  when  exulting  over  their  release.  "  Finally,  breth 
ren,"  wrote  Paul  to  the  Thessalonians,  "  pray  for  us  that  the 
Word  of  God  may  have  free  course  and  be  glorified  .  .  .  for 
all  men  have  not  faith."  And  again,  to  the  Romans,  "  The 
*  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 


CHRISTIAN   OPTIMISM.  79 

Word  of  God  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  and  in  thy 
heart;  that  is  the  Word  of  faith  which  we  preach."  As  true 
love  smites  but  to  heal,  and  as  true  hope  anchors  but  to  secure, 
so  true  faith  binds  but  to  emancipate  from  that  lingering 
bondage  to  "  the  weak  and  beggarly  elements,"  *  from  that 
still  unmortified  "body  cf  death, " f  which  alone  hinders  the 
individual  members  of  the  militant  Church  from  realizing1  in 

o 

their  several  measures,  "the  fullness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in 
all."| 

*  GAL.  iv.  y.  t  ROM.  vii.  24.  J  EPH.  i.  23. 

F 


WELFARE. 


THIS  world's  a  world  of  work,  we  know. 

Who  arc  not  boys,, 
Uut  seek  a  life  beyopd  its  dancing  show 

And  thoughtless  noise. 

We  know  the  envied  scene  and  scope 

Which  wealth  supplies, 
At  best  are  but  decoys,  that  gild  with  hope 

Life's  sacrifice. 

That  earnest  hope  may  we  pursue, 

Or  here,  or  there, 
Which  holds  our  life's  realities  in  view 

By  watchful  prayer ! 

Regarding  too  each  brother's  path 

And  single  aim, 
Who  finds  in  freely  losing  all  he  hath, 

All  he  can  claim. 

So  may  our  lives  of  rectitude 

A  chart  produce, 
Which  shall  by  after-comers  be  reviewed 

For  blessed  use. 

And  as  the  gentle  seasons  roll 

Their  course  of  praise, 
Dispensing  to  mankind,  from  pole  to  pole, 

Good  nights  and  days ; 

May  we,  responsive  to  their  round, 

Our  learning  tell, 
That  they  who  are  to  duty's  orbit  bound 

Always  fare-well ! 
80 


THE   COURT  OF  FORTUNE. 


"It  must  needs  be  that  offences  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the 
offence  cometh  !" — MATT,  xviii.  7. 

BY  the  happy  ordination  of  Divine  Providence,  falsehood 
can  never  so  far  gain  currency  in  the  world,  as  to  form 
part  of  the  constitution  of  language.  To  every  word  there  is 
some  legitimate  meaning.  It  is  by  perverting  it  from  this 
meaning  alone  that  we  can  be  guilty  of  neglecting  "  the  form 
of  sound  words."  It  may  even  be  doubted  whether  any  words 
are  at  all  times  more  liable  than  any  others  to  be  perverted  to 
the  purposes  of  falsehood,  although  such  occasional  liability 
under  the  variable  bias  of  public  sentiment,  is  a  most  obvious 
index  of  the  tendency  of  the  social  mind  at  particular  epochs. 
Among  the  words  which  in  our  age  are  perhaps  most  likely 
to  be  thus  perverted,  are  the  nearly  or  quite  synonymous  terms, 
"fortune,"  and  "  chance."  So  familiar  have  these  sounds  be 
come  as  a  refuge  of  unbelievers  in  the  Divine  government  of 
the  world,  that  the  advocates  of  truth  are  sometimes  tempted 
to  exclaim,  "  There  is  no  such  thing  as  chance."  Surely,  it  is 
merely  a  limitation  of  their  own  vision  which  prevents  them 
from  adding,  "  except  in  subordination  of  an  intelligent  Provi 
dence."  Surely  it  may  be  nothing  worse  than  a  still  more 
narrow  limitation  of  vision  which  enables  their  seeming  ad 
versaries  to  imagine  not  only  a  chance,  but  a  blind  chance. 
For  any  present  time  and  occasion  the  Deity  is  such  as  He 
then  and  there  reveals  Himself,  however  harsh  or  however 
partial  such  revelation  may  be  by  comparison  with  his  essen 
tial  attributes.  This  is  an  adaptation  which  is  simply  neces- 

81 


82  THE    COURT   OF  FORTUNE. 

sary  in  condescension  to  our  erring  or  limited  powers  of  in 
telligence.  To  this  purport  are  the  words  of  the  prophet- 
king,  "The  Lord  hath  recompensed  me  according  to  my 
righteousness ;  according  to  my  cleanness  in  his  eye-sight. 
With  the  merciful  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  merciful,  and  with 
the  upright  man  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  upright.  With  the 
pure  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  pure,  and  with  the  froward 
Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  unsavory."*  There  is  doubtless  such 
a  thing  as  chance  or  fortune  in  the  experience  of  bewildered 
souls,  even  if  they  be  not  hopelessly  benighted.  Nothing  but 
the  inward  light  of  grace,  can  thoroughly  reveal  the  outAvard 
course  of  Providence  ;  and  until  we  can  profess  its  clear  gui 
dance,  let  us  not  indiscriminately  decry  the  vicegerency  of 
Fortune,  however  justly  we  may  occasionally  protest  that  we 
thereby  mean  the  Power  of  Providence.  As  all  earthly  in 
stitutions  are  the  temporary  abodes  of  power,  there  is  one 
institution  which  may  be  said  pre-eminently  to  claim  the  title 
of  the  Court  of  Fortune. 

It  is  a  common  saying  that  they  who  have  taken  upon  them 
selves  the  responsibilities  of  matrimony,  have  given  "  pledges 
to  fortune."  It  is  evident  that  they  make  themselves  increas 
ingly  answerable  to  the  community  for  their  conduct,  and  in 
creasingly  dependent  upon  its  indulgence  for  everything  which 
may  be  called  a  u  breach  of  the  peace."  They  assume  an 
obvious  external  dignity,  which  is  to  be  secured  only  by  the 
support  of  an  internal  intelligence,  or  by  a  careful  subordina 
tion  to  other  dignitaries  whfr  are  possessed  of  such  intelli 
gence.  The  love  of  truth  as  the  source  of  order,  will  make 
them  independent  dignitaries  ;  or  the  love  of  order  as  dis 
tinguished  from  truth,  may  make  them  for  a  while  dependent 
dignitaries :  but  in  matrimony,  as  in  every  other  realm  of  life, 
integrity  of  purpose  must  confer  a  dignity  of  some  degree,  the 
obvious  want  of  which  must  eventually  cover  with  shame  the 
reckless  adventurer  in  its  domain.  By  entering  into  the  mar 
ried  state  an  individual  so  manifestly  publishes  his  incompe- 
*  2  SAM.  xxii.  25-27. 


THE    COURT   OF  FORTUNE.  83 

tency  for  an  independent  life,  that  it  is  difficult  indeed  to 
imagine  another  court  in  which  he  can  be  bound  in  so  heavy 
a  bail  "  to  keep  the  peace."  Opportunities,  also,  here  so  co 
incide  with  interest,  that  the  preservation  of  social  harmony 
may  be  said  to  be  pre-eminently  the  function  of  the  married 
portion  of  the  community. 

If  the  keeping  of  the  peace  be  thus  the  great  business  of 
matrimony,  must  not  every  motive  thereto  be  a  deceptive  and 
injurious  one,  which  does  not  originate  in  the  comprehensive 
disinterestedness  of  unselfish  love?  How  especially  import 
ant  is  it  that  they  who  are  contemplating  an  entrance  upon  its 
distracting  cares,  should  first  carefully  study  in  all  things  u  the 
form  of  sound  words,"  with  a  view  to  the  proper  restraint  of 
that  member  which  is  so  easily  "  set  on  fire  of  hell,"  and 
which  then  "  setteth  on  fire  the  course  of  nature  !"  No  other 
wise  can  they  hope  to  realize  that  serviceable  fortune,  which 
will  not  only  be  a  permanent  protection  to  themselves,  but 
which  may  increasingly  qualify  them  on  all  occasions  to 

"assert  eternal  Providence, 
And  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men." 
8 


THE  RISK   OF  RANK. 


A  PRETTY  thing  appears  subordination, 
Not  to  speak  of  its  practical  use  : 

And  yet  the  seeming  consequence  of  station 
Is  the  source  of  its  common  abuse. 

The  fact  is  clearer  than  its  rationale  : 

For  the  top  of  a  pyramid  crests 
The  joints  below,  as  worthily  as  gayly, 

While  it  shields  them  from  incident  pests. 

But  could  that  top,  while  rigid  to  its  level, 
Be  seen  sidewise  to  swerve  from  its  place, 

It  might  display  the  work  of  self  or  Devil 
In  this  marvel  of  human  disgrace. 

From  base  to  summit  union  would  suffer, 

And  an  open  discordance  ensue. 
When  winds,  erewhile  quiescent,  give  a  rougher 

Intimation  of  what  they  can  do. 

And  could  the  parts  speak  freely  with  each  other, 
With  the  prior  proviso  of  thought, 

The  great  man's  contest  with  his  humbler  brother 
Might  be  then  in  their  dialogue  fought. 

How  rails  the  recreant  block  at  those  below  it, 
For  conspiring  their  lord  to  debase  ! 

And  how  he  deems  they  yet  more  plainly  show  it, 
By  pretending  to  know  their  own  place  ! 

Might  some  good  angel  timely  teach  him  reason, 

By  reminding  how  they  were  secured 
Alike  from  object  and  success  in  treason, 

Had  they  only  a  monarch  ensured  ! 
24 


THE  RHETORIC   OF  RIDICULE. 


"In  malice  be  ye  children,  but  in  understanding  be  ye  men." — i  COR. 
riv.  20. 

IP)  IDICULE  may  be  regarded  as  the  last  resort  of  rhetoric. 

jLv  The  famous  Grecian  expounder  of  ideal  philosophy, 
whose  familiarity  with  the  laws  and  powers  of  rhetoric  has 
perhaps  never  been  surpassed  save  in  the  person  of  Him  who 
"  spake  as  never  man  spake,"  writing  in  the  name  of  his 
equally  famous  master,  thus  defines  the  province  of  its  opera 
tion  :  "  Rhetoric  is  of  no  use  to  us  for  defending  our  own 
injustice,  or  that  of  our  friends  or  our  country.  We  ought 
on  the  contrary  to  accuse  ourselves  in  the  first  instance,  and 
next  our  relatives  and  our  friends,  and  not  to  conceal  our 
transgressions,  but  bring  them  to  light,  that  we  may  suffer 
punishment,  and  be  restored  to  health  ;  not  caring  for  the 
pain,  but  if  we  have  merited  stripes,  giving  ourselves  up  to 
the  stripe  ;  if  imprisonment,  to  the  prison  ;  if  death,  to  death  ; 
and  employing  rhetoric  for  the  accusation  of  ourselves  and  of 
those  who  are  dear  to  us,  that  their  guilt  may  be  made  mani 
fest,  and  that  they  may  be  freed  from  the  greatest  of  evils,  that 
of  injustice."  *  We  may  perhaps  now  conveniently  comprise 
the  same  view  in  fewer  words  by  saying,  that  it  is  the  prov 
ince  of  rhetoric  to  subordinate  personal  peculiarities  to  uni 
versal  principles,  by  supplanting  the  capriciousness  of  false 
hood  with  the  uniformity  of  truth. 

Principles    are    indeed    the    mighty   materials  with   which 
alone  the  rhetorician  must  seek  to  work  ;   but  inasmuch   as 

*  PI.ATO  :  Gorgias. 

85 


86  THE   RHETORIC    OF  RIDICULE. 

convincement  is  his  aim,  persons  also  must  be  the  subjects 
of  his  operation  so  far  as  they  are  the  objects  which  may  be 
impressed  by  the  application  of  principles.  So  long  as  the 
circumstances  and  disposition  of  the  hearer  may  be  equally 
favorable  with  those  of  the  speaker  for  the  appreciation  of 
any  principle  of  truth  which  they  may  be  engaged  in  inves 
tigating,  personal  considerations  may  be  wholly  neglected. 
But  where  there  is  any  disparity  in  these  advantages,  the 
parties  will  of  course  not  see  eye  to  eye  ;  and  he  who  is 
conscious  of  seeing  or  comprehending  something  more  than 
his  associate  is  able  to  acknowledge,  will  be  in  a  correspond 
ing  degree  qualified  to  suggest  to  him  the  occasion  of  his  lack 
of  vision.  So  long  as  this  lack  can  be  accounted  for  by  the 
difference  of  mere  circumstances,  the  advocate  of  truth  may 
still  supply  it  under  the  evident  guidance  of  principles,  by 
demonstrating  that  difference,  and  by  urging  the  influence  of 
the  subsidiary  principles,  which  the  circumstances  in  question 
may  represent,  upon  the  main  topic  of  discussion.  But  when 
he  finds,  upon  thus  leading  his  professed  associate,  as  it  were, 
all  around  their  subject,  that  there  are  any  aspects  from  the 
appreciation  of  which  he  invariably  shrinks  as  one  dazzled 
with  an  excess  of  light,  he  has  no  other  alternative  than  to 
infer  that  the  difficulty  lies  in  the  inherent  inconsistency  or 
incompleteness  of  his  companion's  nature.  He  is  compelled 
to  decide  that  he  is  not  wholly  a  lover  of  light,  and  in  the 
fraternal  endeavor  to  correct  his  misapprehension,  will  en 
courage  him  to  such  a  right  exercise  of  his  senses,  as  shall 
qualify  them  ki  to  discern  both  good  and  evil  by  reason  of 
use."  His  only  remaining  means  to  this  end  will  be  the 
exposure,  in  the  clearest  light  which  he  can  command,  of 
the  inconsistency  or  incoherency  of  his  comrade's  views  arid 
professions,  and  so  far  he  will  have  to  descend  from  the  clear 
sky  of  principles  into  the  cloudy  region  of  personalities.  His 
work  is  still,  however,  not  a  hopeless  one,  since  the  vice  of 
disposition  may  merely  amount  to  such  an  habitual  prejudice 
of  mind  as  is  comparable  to  a  merely  functional  and  tern- 


THE   RHETORIC    OF  RIDICULE.  87 

porary  weakness  of  bodily  sight.  If  the  inquirer  be  so  sound 
at  heart  as  to  be  advancing  in  his  love  for  the  truth,  and 
"  growing  by  the  sincere  milk  of  doctrine,"  he  will  patiently 
endure,  and  will  eventually  rejoice  over,  the  transient  morti 
fication  and  exposure  which  are  the  means  of  enlarging  his 
sphere  of  life  and  labor  in  the  truth.  He  will  be  convinced 
and  will  not  need  to  be  convicted.  He  may  be  a  temporary 
subject  of  the  rule  of  ridicule,  but  he  cannot  be  called  its 
victim. 

Far  otherwise  must  it  be  with  all  who  stubbornly  close  the 
eyes  of  their  mind  to  the  shining  of  the  divine  Light  of  truth. 
For  such  the  herald  of  truth  will  sooner  or  later  receive  the 
command,  "  Cry  aloud,  spare  not."  As  happened  in  olden 
time,  they  will  ever  be  prone  to  account  themselves  the  mo 
nopolists  of  truth,  and  to  fortify  themselves  in  their  own  con 
ceit  with  all  the  resources  of  reason  and  all  the  sanctions 
of  tradition.  But  as  they  persist  in  their  practical  denial  of 
the  omnipresence  of  the  divine  Enlightener  and  Leader  and 
Feeder  of  souls,  they  must  necessarily  fall  into  the  unpardon 
able  sin  of  arrogating  to  themselves  the  attributes  of  God. 
Presuming  upon  past  attainments,  and  basing  their  views  of 
merit  upon  the  deceitful  ground  of  human  comparison,  their 
shameless  assurance  can  be  shaken  by  but  one  species  of 
argument.  Having  abandoned  the  rule  of  harmony  for  that 
of  discord,  they  are  fit  subjects  for  the  law  of  contrast,  and 
the  so-called  argumentum  ad  hominem  becomes  applicable 
to  them,  as  being  nothing  more  nor  less  than  an  exposure  of 
the  contrast  between  their  profession  and  their  practice.  It 
is  an  exposure  which  may  be  both  appreciable  in  itself,  and 
intensified  by  reflection  from  the  perception  of  surrounding 
beholders.  It  was  with  the  argumentum  ad  hominem  that 
Elijah  discomfited  the  prophets  of  Baal  previously  to  their 
utter  extermination  ;  and  with  it  the  Redeemer  of  men  con 
descended  to  expose  the  self-righteousness  of  officious  and 
caviling  tale-bearers.  As  its  penalty  is  originally  incurred 
by  a  desertion  of  principles,  so  its  terrors  must  increase  with 

8* 


88  THE  RHETORIC    OF  RIDICULE. 

the  progress  of  selfish  transgression,  until  the  rule  of  ridicule 
may  be  overtaken  and  justly  supplanted  by  that  of  the  un 
qualified  and  unsympathizing  pity,  which  is  but  another  name 
for  a  righteous  contempt.  In  conformity  with  apostolic  doc 
trine  the  unhappy  victim  may  then  be  charitably  neglected  as 
one  who  is  beyond  the  reach  of  rhetoric. 

Prophecy  may  be  the  language  of  the  perfected  Christian, 
but  the  partial  modes  of  utterance  which  the  Apostle  Paul 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  tongues  must  thus  still  have 
their  place  in  an  imperfect  world,  as  "a  sign,  not  to  them 
that  believe,  but  to  them  that  believe  not."  "  There  are,  it 
may  be,  so  many  kinds  of  voices  in  the  world,  and  none  of 
them  is  without  signification.  .  .  .  Wherefore,  brethren,  covet 
to  prophecy,  and  forbid  not  to  speak  with  tongues." 


THE    MISSIONARY. 


WHO  shall  the  willing  witness  be 

To  sound  the  gospel  mystery  ? 

Who,  with  the  standard  pure  unfurled, 

Will  preach  the  grace  that  saves  the  world? 

What,  thinkest  thou,  awaiteth  thee 
WTho  sayest,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me  ! 
The  fields  are  white,  the  hands  are  few ; 
And  work  is  pleasure  in  my  view." 

Thy  path  so  plain — thy  crown  so  sure — 
Thou  seemest  eager  to  endure 
The  cross  of  care  and  brunt  of  strife, 
In  harvesting  eternal  life. 

Go  forth  !     But,  with  "  the  things  behind," 
Leave  not  that  discipline  of  mind 
Which  is  begun  when  faith  begins, — 
The  timely  rod  for  secret  sins  ! 

Regardful  of  those  inner  deeps 
Where  every  infant  giant  sleeps, 
Thence  never  wholly  to  depart 
Till  rules  the  gospel  all  thy  heart ; 

And  conscious  there  by  sympathy 

Of  every  brother's  misery, 

Acquit  thee,  through  life's  shifting  scene, 

As  follower  of  the  Nazarene  ! 

And  while  thy  labors  outward  flow, 
And  words  or  acts  thy  message  show, 
Thy  all-sufficient  guerdon  be, 
To  rise  with  Him  who  died  for  thee  ! 

8* 


cm  BONO? 


"  No  truth  from  Heaven  descends  upon  our  sphere, 
Without  the  greeting  of  the  skeptic's  sneer ; 
Denied  and  mocked  at,  till  its  blessings  fall, 
Common  as  dew  and  sunshine,  over  all." 

WHITTIER. 

'HP*  HE  vanity  of  all  things  is  the  text  both  of  the  skeptic 
JL  and  of  the  believer.  The  difference  between  them  is, 
that  the  one  "utters  all  his  mind,"  while  the  other  "keepeth  it 
in  till  afterward,"  ever  retaining  his  hold  on  the  material  of 
thought,  which  is  the  determining  principle  of  utterance. 
The  skeptic  claims  only  to  live  in  the  apparent  facts  of  com 
municable  or  demonstrable  experience,  while  the  believer 
knows  that  the  roots  and  fruits  of  his  experience  reach  be 
neath  and  beyond  all  that  can  be  narrated  to  his  fellow-man. 
What  have  you  been  living  for?  What  has  all  your  labor 
amounted  to?  are  therefore  the  questions  which  they  are 
alike  prone  to  address  to  their  fellow-men,  when  seeking  to 
lead  them  to  their  own  way  of  feeling  and  thinking,  in  view 
of  the  obvious  variance  of  their  practice.  Each,  as  judged 
by  the  standard  of  the  other,  must  obviously  be  guilty  of  a 
sort  of  continual  suicide. 

Happily,  the  belief  in  an  internal  existence  is  identical 
with  that  in  an  eternal  existence.  In  accordance  with  the 
proverb  u  the  end  crowns  all,"  the  true  believer  knows  that 
the  end  of  all  things,  so  far  from  being  the  annihilation  of 
life,  is  its  consummation.  By  way  of  setting  forth  the  futility 
of  even  the  present  efforts  of  his  gainsayer,  he  can  not  only 

90 


CUI  BONO?  91 

ask  him,  What  has  all  thy  labor  amounted  to? — but,  What  is 
it  all  amounting  to?  If  the  door  of  inquiry  be  thus  opened 
for  the  entrance  of  substantial  argument,  he  may  proceed  to 
testify,  that  it  is  even  in  vain  to  query  what  any  previous 
labor  has  amounted  to,  save  in  so  far  as  the  gift  of  insight 
and  forecast  may  qualify  us  in  the  first  place  to  assert  what 
would  have  been,  had  our  course  been  different.  The  skeptic 
by  ignoring  such  qualification  is  indeed  enabled  to  ridicule 
the  believer ;  but  he  purchases  his  temporary  impunity  at  the 
expense  of  his  own  voluntary  blindness. 

The  stronghold  of  skepticism  is  thus  its  inevitable  grave 
Living  in  surfaces,  it  can  judge  only  by  the  comparison  of 
outward  experience.  Its  preponderating  regard  for  the  pres 
ent  as  masked  by  the  material,  renders  it  proportionally  for 
getful  of  the  monitions  of  the  past,  and  blind  to  the  dawn  of 
the  future  in  the  light  of  the  spiritual.  Counting  itself  prac 
tically  wise,  it  rushes  upon  that  living  death  of  ignominy,  in 
which  the  loss  of  the  last  vestige  of  respect  from  once  kindred 
souls  converts  even  the  stimulating  appearance  of  present 
hostility  into  the  withering  reality  of  distant  pity.  The 
query,  u  Cut  bono?"  if  it  then  shall  occur  to  its  miserable 
victims,  can  only  occur  in  connection  with  the  ironical  res 
ponse  of  the  self-questioning  seer,* 

"  Men  may  live  fools,  but  fools  they  cannot  die," 
*  YOUNG  :  Night  Thoughts. 


TRUTH. 


FUTURITY  were  ever  present, 

Were  all  the  present  but  revealed. 
Adversity  were  not  unpleasant, 

Were  Truth's  resources  not  concealed. 

There  is  indeed  a  veil  of  Isis, — * 

A  veil  which  needs  but  to  be  rent, 
To  manifest  in  every  crisis 

The  floods  of  light  in  darkness  pent. 

And  in  the  true  crusader's  struggle 

There  is  indeed  a  force  revealed, 
By  foes  esteemed  an  idle  juggle, 

Which  serves  its  friends  as  sword  and  shield. 

Then  rend  the  veil,  and  read  the  battle, 

Whoe'er  thou  art  that  lackest  aught ! 
And  light  and  life,  and  needful  chattel 

By  hidden  Wisdom  shall  be  brought. 

On  every  side  see  wiles  Satanic 

Conducting  schemes  for  future  bane, — 
For  churchman's  feud,  for  merchant's  panic, 

For  statesman's  fall,  for  all  men's  pain  ! 

And  see  through  all,  one  wide  endeavor 

To  break  the  rule  of  reck  and  ruth, 
With  stubborn  treason  prating  ever, 

"  There's  no  coherency  in  truth  !" 

Through  past  and  present,  the  hereafter 

Shall  shine  on  thee,  whoe'er  thou  art, 
Who  bravest  strife  and  scorn  and  laughter, 

To  prove  the  lessons  of  thy  heart. 

*  "  I  am  all  that  was,  and  is,  and  shall  be ;  nor  my  veil,  has  it  been  withdrawn  by  mortal, 
-Inscription  in  temple  of  Isis. 
92 


FUNGUS  AS  A  WORD. 


"  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  gentleness." — GAL.  v.  22. 

WORDS  are  things.  I  do  not  like  the  word  "bloat." 
As  an  instrument  of  language,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  thing  is  either  worn  out,  or  in  need  of  repair.  If  so  it 
may  well  be  released  for  a  time  from  active  service,  in  order 
that,  like  the  fallow  field  of  the  husbandman,  it  may  renew 
its  strength  by  an  undisturbed  exposure  to  the  ceaseless  oscil 
lations  of  upper  and  of  nether  elemental  influence  ;  or  that, 
like  the  precious  material  of  his  recent  manure  heap,  by  the 
resolution  of  its  offensive  ingredients,  it  may  as  the  pure  nu 
triment  of  truth  recover  its  efficacy  as  a  constituent  in  the 
living  machinery  of  mind.  We  tend  to  extremes  in  all  our 
policy.  In  language  the  tendency  is  shown  in  the  fatality  by 
which  words  originally  indifferent  in  their  moral  application 
acquire  a  meaning  which  is  either  obviously  opprobrious  or 
obviously  laudatory.  The  phenomenon  of  nature  which  has 
been  once  used  by  the  original  thinker  and  speaker  as  a  sign 
for  the  expression  of  dispassionate  thought,  is  quickly  bor 
rowed  by  those  who  are  unable  or  unsolicitous  to  distinguish 
between  its  abstract  value  and  its  personal  application  ;  the 
sentiment  is  associated  with  the  surroundings ;  and  the  epi 
thet  or  the  term,  instead  of  being  the  channel  of  useful  evi 
dence  or  of  convincing  proof,  becomes  with  them  that  of  idle 
personality  or  of  impotent  judgment. 

Some  words  appear  to  be  more  liable  than  others  to  this 
exhaustion  or  corruption  of  their  original  value.     Metaphors 

93 


94  FUNGUS  AS  A    WOltD. 

which  may  have  been  derived  from  the  animal  kingdom  are 
more  readily  received  and  literalized  in  an  unduly  offensive 
or  flattering  signification,  than  those  which  have  been  supplied 
by  the  more  obviously  unconscious  phases  and  involuntary 
actions  of  vegetable  life,  or  by  the  purely  mechanical  phe 
nomena  of  inanimate  nature.  What  we  call  bloating  or  pam 
pering  in  the  animal  kingdom,  is  suggestive  of  evil  agency, 
because  it  can  only  occur  in  the  experience  or  under  the 
management  of  him  who  is  the  responsible  head  of  the  ani 
mal  kingdom,  and  in  subjects  which,  exhibiting  more  or  less 
appearance  of  volition  and  intelligence,  are  so  far  apparently 
responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  their  own  infirmities.  The 
suggestions,  indeed,  which  must  often  undesignedly  attenc 
upon  the  exhibition  of  facts,  may  be  useful,  like  shadows 
upon  the  ground,  as  indications  to  those  who  cannot  lift  then 
eyes  to  the  contemplation  of  substances ;  but  inasmuch  as  the 
object  of  honest  speaking  is  to  deal  only  with  facts  and  allow 
suggestions  to  take  care  of  themselves,  the  honest  speaker  wil 
endeavor  to  use  such  facts  in  the  illustration  of  his  thought  a* 
shall  compel  the  hearer  to  look  upward,  or  to  see  nothing 
Being  himself  guiltless  of  regarding  appearances  as  anything 
more  than  ambiguous  indications  of  the  course  of  inward  life 
he  will  carefully  avoid  such  forms  of  expression  as  might  leac 
other  observers  to  accept  them  as  definite  manifestations  of 
the  secrets  of  character.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  catholic 
charity  which  is  able  to  "  believe  all  things,"  he  will  escape 
both  the  reality  and  the  permanent  appearance  of  judging  of 
spiritual  dispositions  from  physical  habits.  We  may  thus,  ] 
think,  well  prefer  the  vegetable  word  Fungus,  to  the  anima 
word  Bloat,  in  treating  of  the  moral  and  mental  extravagances 
which  are  so  sure  to  overtake  communities  who,  having  long 
reposed  in  the  dense  luxuriance  of  worldly  prosperity,  have 
insensibly  secluded  themselves  from  the  unobstructed  illumi 
nation  and  vigorous  ventilation  of  universal  truth. 

Words  are  not  things.     Nature  is  the  great  storehouse  of 
language,  as  well  as  of  all  other  worldly  wealth.     Every  mean- 


FUNGUS  AS  A    WORD.  95 

ing  which  has  not  the  warrant  of  an  analogy  derived  from  the 
universal  and  mysteriously  consistent  system  of  natural  truth, 
is  a  fiction  of  the  individual  or  associate  mind,  which,  when 
its  value  is  fairly  put  to  the  test,  will  be  found  as  uncurrent  in 
the  realm  of  pure  ir.owledge,  as  is  the  certificate  of  an  ex 
ploded  bank  in  a  community  which  trades  upon  credit,  or  as 
is  the  conventional  coin  in  a  district  wherein  gold  is  more 
abundant  than  bread.  Trust  is  indeed  a  glorious  and  life- 
sustaining  reality  ;  but  even  in  the  use  of  words  it  has  no 
other  security  than  the  immutability  of  truth.  As  a  mere 
species  of  currency,  language  is  at  the  best  but  a  convenient 
abstraction  which  can  and  must  be  adapted  at  will  to  every 
diversity  and  contrariety  of  circumstances.  That  language  is 
originally  void  of  objective  value,  is  shown  by  fhe  original 
need  of  objective  illustration  and  implicit  trust  in  its  employ 
ment. 

The  solution  of  the  paradox  is  a  simple  one.  Nature,  as 
the  work  or  expression  of  God,  is  infinite.  Langrage,  as  that 
of  man,  is  finite.  Fungus  and  Bloat,  as  terms  of  substantive 
meaning,  are,  after  all,  identical  if  intelligently  defined  and 
trustfully  received.  The  spiritual  realm  being  recognized  as 
the  only  sphere  of  consciousness  and  independent  action,  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  of  life-manifestation  become 
essentially  one,  their  long  sought  dividing-line  being  found  to 
have,  in  nature  as  in  mind,  no  other  than  a  hypothetical  ex 
istence.  The  two  words  may  doubtless  be  used  indifferently 
to  indicate  the  superficial  depravity  of  development,  in  which 
quantity  usurps  the  place  of  quality  ;  and  which,  having  been 
introduced  by  sin,  may  be  prolonged,  although  not  perpetu 
ated,  by  an  innocent  ignorance,  in  a  world  abounding  with 
materials,  under  the  government  of  Him  who  "  openeth  his 
hand  and  satisfieth  the  desire  of  every  living  thing,"  "  who 
maketh  his  sun  to  shine  upon  the  evil  and  upon  the  good,  and 
sendeth  his  rain  upon  the  just  and  upon  the  unjust." 
9  G 


MIGHT  vs.   RIGHT. 


•'  GET  what  you  can,  and  keep  what  you  get ! 

Who  can  be  always  in  search  of  the  right? 
Dream  what  you  will  of  mercy  or  debt, 

Who  can  contend  with  the  kingdom  of  might  ? 

"  Welcome  such  rest  as  mortals  can  find  ! 

Welcome  the  clouds,  for  the  sake  of  such  ligl'-t 
Cherish  the  bonds  which  righteously  bind, 
Satisfied  simply  that  might  shall  be  right  1" 

Such  the  advice  their  learning  affords, 

Who,  in  such  station  as  falls  to  their  lot, 
, Cling  to  the  world,  and  think  to  be  lords 
In  their  own  right,  over  that  they  have  got. 

Slaves  to  a  passing  system  of  things, 

Vainly  they  struggle  that  all  shall  be  so, 

Craving  the  comfort  company  brings, 
Rather  than  hoping  their  fate  to  forego. 

Might  is  to  right  as  body  to  soul : 

Why  need  we  utter  such  simple  advice  ! 

Charity  spreads  its  living  control ; 

Selfishness  wastes  like  the  victualler's  ice. 

Leaving  itself,  as  known  by  the  flesh, 
Charity  looks  for  its  objects  abroad, 

Seeking  its  life  by  truth  to  refresh, 

Shunning  like  death  the  contagion  of  fraud. 

Selfishness  shrinks  from  destined  decay, 

Nursing  the  form  which  the  spirit  has  quit. 
Wisdom  descends  to  lighten  our  way— 

Wisdom's  the  great  matter,  therefore  get  it  !* 

*  PROV.  iv.  7. 
96 


CHRISTIAN    COMMUNISM. 


"  God  is  in  the  generation  of  the  righteous." — Ps.  xiv.  5. 
"  As  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in 
us." — JOHN  xvii.  21. 

CHRISTIANITY  and  Fraternity  may  be  said  to  be  syn- 
V_-x  onymous  terms  in  so  far  as  they  alike  imply  the  primary 
relation  of  Sonship.  The  true  brotherhood  which  is  involv 
ed  in  a  conscious  reliance  upon  the  Universal  Father  who  is 
Himself  greater  than  all  his  works,  inhales  a  freedom  and 
exhales  a  love  which  set  at  defiance  every  barrier  of  outward 
inequality.  "Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity"  in  all  the 
essentials  of  existence,  are  still  the  heirloom  of  "  the  multi 
tude  of  them  that  believe."  Only  by  the  imperfection  of  be 
lief  are  any  ever  excluded  from  the  felicity  of  being  "  of  one 
heart  and  of  one  soul,"  and  of  having  "  all  things  common." 
As  belief  in  the  all-convincing  Light  is  ready  and  persistent, 
realization  of  the  all-sufficing  Good  will  be  full  and  perma 
nent,  however  the  capacity  and  sphere  of  service  and  enjoy 
ment  may  vary  in  various  individuals.  "  These  things  have 
I  spoken  unto  you,"  said  the  Saviour,  "  that  my  joy  might 
remain  in  you,  and  that  your  joy  might  be  full."  "Ask  in 
my  name  and  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full." 

The  interior  conflict  between  the  rule  of  Divine  Grace  and 
that  of  morbid  sentiment  is  outwardly  reflected  in  the  appa 
rent  confusion  between  the  just  administration  of  Providence 
and  the  reckless  usurpation  of  Mammon.  As,  however,  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  who,  in  his  first  or  historical  and  yet  typical 
coming,  declared  that  every  true  follower  should  be  his 

97 


9§  CHRISTIAN   COMMUNISM. 

"  mother  and  brother  and  sister,"  shall  be  so  welcomed  in  his 
second  or  mystical,  and  yet  individual  and  most  experimental 
coming,  as  to  be  indeed  "  formed  in  us,"  we  cannot  but  real 
ize  both  internally  and  externally  that  the  so-called  "  Over- 
Ruler  "  is  to  us  through  all  events,  the  only  actual  Ruler. 
As  this  may  become  our  experience,  no  Satanic  subtilty  can 
so  corrupt  us  "from  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ,"  as  to 
destroy  the  blessed  assurance,  "  All  things  are  yours,  and  ye 
are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's."  Still  indeed,  while  indi 
viduality  shall  endure  the  desire  of  communion  will  remain 
as  the  occasion  for  the  profitable  precept,  "  Let  every  one  of 
us  please  his  neighbor  for  his  good  to  edification  ;"  but  the 
blunders  of  sentiment,  and  the  outrages  of  avaricious  lust  can 
be  effectually  combated  by  no  display  of  words  which  is  not 
derived  from  the  "first  and  great  commandment"  of  the  Divine 
Man,  and  from  "the  second"  which  "is  like  unto  it." 
"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind."  "  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  The  worship  which  is  manifested 
by  perseverance  in  enlightened  self-interest  is  the  road  to  that 
purity  of  heart  in  which  all  may  "  see  God,"  and  all  frag 
mentary  and  seemingly  conflicting  interests  be  blended  and 
consolidated  in  one. 


POLICY. 


THAT  of  "  Given  an  inch  and  extorted  an  ell," 
Is  a  trouble  earth's  rulers  have  often  to  tell. 
In  the  worth  of  experience  all  men  agree : 
May  experience  profit  the  powers  that  be  ! 

The  display  of  their  strength,  and  the  guard  of  their  dues. 
If  too  often  the  themes  on  which  potentates  muse, 
Must  result  in  the  loss  of  both  power  and  means  ; 
For  the  world  travels  onward  while  self-hood  o'erweens. 

The  regarding  of  self,  in  the  high  or  the  low, 
Draws  the  curse  of  inaction  wherever  they  go — 
The  neglect  of  the  work  to  repose  in  the  way, 
While  the  multitude  presses  ;  for  all  cannot  stay. 

Every  man  is  a  monarch  who  keeps  his  true  place 
As  a  part  of  the  whole,  with  discretion  and  grace. 
By  discretion  in  council,  and  grace  in  affairs, 
He  will  gain  while  he  gives,  and  preserve  for  his  heirs. 

Every  man  is  a  slave  who  is  dead  to  the  ties 
By  which  all,  who  observe  them,  in  concert  will  rise. 
As  his  giving  or  getting  is  out  of  their  course, 
No  pretension  of  zeal  shall  delay  his  remorse. 

He  who  yields  in  the  self-hood  not  only  gives  worse, 
But  his  blindness  thus  leads  him  himself  to  disburse  : 
Then,  with  character  lessening,  must  lessen  his  dues, 
With  demands  unabated  which  all  men  refuse. 

So,  to  get  what  they  can  and  to  keep  what  they  get, 
Is  the  crown  of  their  life  who  make  duty  their  debt : 
But  its  price  and  its  proof  is  the  will  to  believe 
That  to  give  is  more  blessed  than  e'en  to  receive. 

99 


BIBLIOLATRY  AND   PANTHEISM. 


"  In  philosophy,  men  have  abused  the  code  of  natural,  as  in  theology,  the 
code  of  positive  revelation ;  and  the  epigraph  of  a  great  Protestant  divine 
on  the  book  of  Scripture,  is  certainly  not  less  applicable  to  the  book  of  con 
sciousness  : 

"  Hie  liber  est  in  quo  quarit  sua  dogmata  quisque  ; 

Inz'enit,  et pariter  dogmata  quisque  sua." 
"  This  is  the  book  where  each  his  dogma  seeks, 

And  this  the  book  where  each  his  dogma  finds." 

SIR  WM.  HAMILTON. 


T 


HE  sentiment  of  a  contemporary  poet,* — 

"Thought  lies  deeper  than  all  speech  ; 
Feeling,  deeper  than  all  thought ;" 


although  doubtless  liable  to  obscuration  at  the  hands  of  hasty 
creed-builders,  is  sufficiently  clear  to  the  unsophisticated  ex 
plorer  of  actual  life.  Language,  articulate  or  inarticulate,  is 
undoubtedly  symbolical  and  representative  in  the  first  place 
of  distinct  or  indistinct  ideas,  and,  in  connection  with  them, 
the  vehicle  of  feeling,  at  least  so  far  as  feeling  may  be  com 
municated  from  man  to  man  bv  natural  means.  The  springs 
of  life  are  evidently  hidden  deeply  beneath  the  animal  senses, 
and  still  more  deeply  beneath  the  facts  of  external  nature  with 
which  those  senses  are  conversant,  and  which  furnish  the 
materials  of  language.  Language,  therefore,  although  in  its 
origin  a  superficial  gift  or  invention,  is  in  its  efficient  employ 
ment  and  development  an  ever  increasing  mystery  ;  and  those 
terms  which  are  pre-eminently  comprehensive,  such  as  truth, 

*  C.  P.  C  RANCH. 
100 


BIBL1OLATRT  AND  PANTHEISM.  IOI 

harmony,  wisdom,  must  proportionally  surpass  other  terms 
in  their  acquired  mysteriousness,  or  power  of  taking  by  sur 
prise  the  inexperienced  thinker.  Before  proceeding  to  a  con 
sideration  of  the  connection  between  Bible-worship  and  Pan 
theism,  it  may  be  well  to  contemplate  some  of* the  ideal  rela 
tions  of  the  word,  Wisdom. 

Human  wisdom,  being  the  extent  to  which  men  may  have 
progressed  in  the  knowledge  of  truth,  is  evidently  a  phrase 
of  variable  meaning.  Wisdom,  as  an  object  of  attainment, 
is  thus  distinguished  from  itself  as  a  subject  of  aspiration. 
In  other  words,  it  is  practically  divisible  into  the  smaller 
province  which  is  already  attained,  and  therefore  now  de 
monstrable,  and  into  the  larger  province  which  is  yet  attain 
able,  and  therefore  as  yet  mystical ;  and  the  line  of  demarka- 
tion  must  generally,  if  not  always,  lie  differently  in  different 
minds,  or  in  the  same  mind  at  different  times.  The  neglect 
of  this  observation  is  a  frequent  source  of  confusion  and  mis 
understanding,  in  the  adoption  and  application  of  important 
rules  of  conduct. 

To  him  who  is  indeed  enough  of  a  Christian  to  be  able  to 
say  on  all  occasions,  u  I  am  nothing,  Christ  is  all,"  there  is  no 
longer  any  distinction  between  the  light  of  nature  and  the 
light  of  grace.  The  "Wisdom"  of  which  King  Solomon 
writes  in  Proverbs  (chap,  viii.)  strikingly  corresponds  with 
the  "Word"  of  the  Evangelist  John,  and  evidently  means 
nothing  less  than  the  Supernatural  Power  which  is  ever  con- 
trollingly  present  in  nature,  and  which  is  also  nearer  to  the 
souls  which  submit  to  its  internal  government  than  anything 
else  can  be,  or  than  they  are  to  one  another.  The  Evil  Spirit, 
the  only  evil  which  may  lawfully,  rationally,  or  efficiently  be 
resisted,  having  fled  from  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine 
'Power  which  becomes  theirs  by  faith,  all  experience  becomes 
to  them  a  channel  of  divine  revelation,  and  in  all  they  are 
alike  secure  from  the  danger  of  mistaking  the  channel  for 
the  stream.  That  which  is  thus  wholly  true  of  the  perfect 
Christian,  would  evidently  be  proportionably  true  of  imper- 


102  BIBLIOLATRT  AND  PANTHEISM. 

feet  Christians  of  every  degree,  if  they  could  be  preserved 
from  all  exclusive  or  excessive  attachment  to  particular  modes 
of  revelation. 

So  far,  however,  as  any  professor  of  Christianity  shall  fall 
short  of  that  perfect  and  immediate  dependence  upon  the 
Divine  Fountain  which  alone  can  secure  an  impartial  indif 
ference  to  the  means  of  grace,  his  faltering  self-denial  cannot 
so  overcome  the  prejudices  of  education,  nor  his  partial  en 
lightenment  so  ignore  the  limitations  of  nature,  but  that  some 
one  science,  record,  or  system,  will  be  preponderatingly  a  rule 
of  faith  and  revelation  to  him.  The  abstract  and  comprehen 
sive  rule  of  the  spiritual  cross,  although  it  will  prevent  his 
resting  in  anything  which  is  mere  attainment  to  himself,  can 
not  at  once  place  him  beyond  a  dependence  upon  that  which 
may  be  mere  attainment  to  others  ;  which  dependence  may 
accordingly  to  them  be  indistinguishable  from  idolatry.  Thus 
it  happens  that  the  vanguard  of  civilization  in  our  age  is 
largely  composed  of  more  or  less  exclusive  votaries  of  Biblical 
and  of  Natural  Science,  who  may  be  typified  on  the  one  hand 
by  those  who  term  the  Scriptures,  the  Word  of  God,  and  on 
the  other  by  those  who,  because  they  are  at  a  loss  to  distin 
guish  between  the  Creator  and  the  created  universe,  are  called 
Pantheists.  Tradition  is  thus  seemingly  at  variance  with  in 
tuition,  and  history  with  theory.  But  as  all  parties  continue 
earnestly  the  pursuit  of  intrinsic  truth,  all  may  doubtless  es 
cape  the  dangers  of  their  diverse  bigotries,  realizing  in  the  life 
of  the  Resurrection,  the  omnipresence  of  Him  by  whom  "all 
things  were  made,"  and  "  in  whom  all  things  consist." 


THE   LIFE   OF  GRACE. 


THE  world's  the  table  of  a  mixed  repast, 
Contrived  with  wisdom,  as  with  bounty,  vast ; 

Where  Christian  men 
Relax  in  converse  o'er  their  diverse  cares, 
Thence  parting  to  resume  their  proper  shares 

Of  work  again. 

Refreshment  quickens  every  hand  and  heart 
Its  several  toil  with  zeal  renewed  to  start, 

As  Prudence  gives 

The  tempered  taste,  true  tongue,  and  willing  ear, 
Which  carry  on  the  current  of  good  cheer 

By  which  it  lives. 

Thus  man  depends  on  Prudence.     On  itself 
Alone,  hangs  Prudence.     Human  wit  and  pelf, 

As  simple  tools, 

This  effluence  of  Deity  employs 
To  their  behoof,  who  heed  in  all  their  joys 

Its  mystic  rules. 

Man's  mission  is  not  to  avoid  the  world, 
But  the  denouncings  which  on  it  are  hurled, 

In  that  it  dreams 

An  independence  of  its  own  to  nurse, 
And  for  the  better  reason  puts  the  worse 

In  all  its  schemes. 

So  while  we  shun  not,  let  us  stoop,  to  eat, 
Without  base  homage,  our  appointed  meat; 

Remembering 

That  life  above  the  world,  in  which  we  strive, 
If  we  in  labor  be  indeed  alive 

And  prospering  ! 

103 


104  THE  LIFE  OF  GRACE. 

Right  thoughtfully,  and  thankfully,  may  we 
O'er  outward  blessings  study  to  agree ; 

And  gladly  share, 

Without  the  blinding  eagerness  of  sloth, 
For  relaxation  and  refreshment  both, 

Our  daily  fare  ! 

Then  shall  both  strength  and  taste  be  e'er  renewed 
For  public  or  for  private  fruits  of  good ; 

And  we  the  grace 

Attain,  to  seek  but  in  the  Father's  will* 
The  meat  which  can  the  fainting  spirit  fill, 

In  every  place. 

»  "  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me,  and  to  finish  his  work."— JOHN  iv.  34. 


THE   KING   OF  WORDS. 


"The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God;  for  they 
are  foolishness  unto  him  :  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spirit 
ually  discerned."— I  COR.  ii.  14. 

SOCIAL  life  may  be  said  to  be  made  up  of  the  continual 
alternation  of  expression  and  interpretation.  Every 
human  being  is  in  a  limited  sphere  a  sovereign  issuing  de 
crees  by  deed  and  by  word  ;  and  also,  with  less  limitation, 
a  subject  receiving  the  decrees  of  God  and  his  fellow-man, 
and  responsible  for  their  just  interpretation  and  faithful  exe 
cution.  So  far  as  his  execution  is  indeed  faithful,  his  service 
becomes  sovereignty,  and  his  interpretation  is  merged  into  an 
enlarged  expression.  So  far  as  he  is  faithless,  his  perform 
ance  must  be  a  suicide  of  experience,  or  that  capricious  living 
in  mere  pleasure,  which  is  scripturally  affirmed  to  be  a  living 
death,  and  whose  only  positive  and  abiding  result  is  the  tor 
ment  of  a  vicious  interpretation,  or  the  consciousness  of  per 
verted  powers  and  lost  opportunities.  The  most  wicked  life 
may  indeed  be  unintentionally  and  obviously  useful  ;  but  its 
utility  is  no  more  attributable  to  the  agent,  than  the  power  of 
thought  and  consciousness  can  be  attributed  to  a  steam-engine. 
He  will  be  negatively  dead  to  the  partial  good  of  his  action, 
as  he  is  positively  dead  in  the  commingling  evil. 

Men  are  naturally  materialists.  However  it  may  have  been 
with  the  origination  of  the  race,  its  multiplication  is  evidently 
a  material  phenomenon.  At  the  outset  of  individual  life, 
matter  is  the  basis  of  experience  with  all,  and  must  so  con 
tinue  until  the  more  or  less  complete  subjugation  of  death, 

105 


lo6  THE  KING    OF    WORDS. 

hell  and  the  grave,  and  the  accompanying  miraculous  acces 
sion  of  the  dividual  and  regenerate  life  of  the  spirit.  No  one, 
therefore,  by  whom  that  happy  transformation  is  unattained, 
is  at  any  time  capable  of  full}-  interpreting  either  himself  or 
his  circumstances.  Hence  the  wondering  query  with  which 
those  words  and  works  of  men  which  most  truly  reflect  the 
universal  simplicity  of  objective  nature,  are  at  first  almost 
universally  greeted,  "What  do  they  mean?"  But  the  quality 
of  truthful  simplicity  by  which  alone  they  are  capable  of  com 
pelling  attention,  being  not  only  unfathomable  but  inconceiv 
able  to  a  sensual  discernment,  the  superficial  querist  learns  to 
regard  rather  the  disposition  of  the  doer  or  speaker  than  the 
matter  of  his  expression,  as  a  more  familiar,  though  not  truly 
more  fathomable,  subject  of  interpretation,  and  the  term 
fc' meaning"  loses  much  or  all  of  its  force  in  contributing  to 
that  of  the  term  "  Motive."  The  servility  of  the  sensual 
nature  thus  conspires  with  the  dignity  of  the  spiritual,  to 
assign  a  commanding  value  to  this  mysterious  but  indispens 
able  word.  The  eccentricities  of  temperament  and  of  train 
ing  fail  to  offend  when  a  conciliating  Motive  is  supposed  to 
be  involved  in  the  instantaneous  and  deep-seated  action  of  the 
will. 

The  word  Motive  is  not  only  thus  of  larger  social  signifi 
cance  than  the  words  Meaning  and  Method,  but  it  is  in  an 
even  greater  degree  paramount  to  another,  the  word  Object, 
with  which  it  is  nevertheless  still  more  liable  to  be  confounded. 
In  his  unregenerate  incompetency  to  appreciate  the  abstract 
foundations  of  thought,  man  is  prone  to  overlook  both  the 
motive  proper  or  affectional  germ  of  his  proceeding,  and  its 
intelligence  or  method,  in  the  concrete  aim  or  so-called  object 
of  action  ;  thus  giving  all  the  force  of  the  term  Motive  to  the 
thing  which  is  determined  rather  than  to  the  determining 
principle,  and  miserably  ignoring  all  law  except  the  pretend 
ed  rule  of  fate  or  chance.  Whoever  says  "  motive"  when  he 
means  "  object,"  countenances  the  delusion.  The  impulse, 
the  method  and  the  object,  may  indeed  be  said  to  form  a 


THE   KING    OF    WORDS.  1 07 

practically  inseparable  trinity  of  integral  activity  ;  but  in  so 
tar  as  theory  governs  practice,  the  members  of  every  trinity 
must  be  at  least  distinguished  theoretically.  The  disposing 
motion  of  the  soul,  which  is  the  primary  development  of  voli 
tion,  must  evidently  be  the  leading  or  immediately  causative 
principle  of  human  activity,  and  as  such  alone  strictly  entitled 
to  the  name  of  Motive.  Being  theoretically  distinguishable 
from  the  action  of  the  will,  it  is  theoretically  but  a  viceroy  of 
conduct :  but  as  the  ever-acting  viceroy,  practically  indistin 
guishable  from  the  determining  royalty,  it  becomes  the  ulti 
mate  criterion  in  the  estimate  both  of  thought  and  of  conduct, 
and  therefore  practically  the  King  of  the  turbulent  province 
of  Language. 
10 


MOTIVES. 


r*  I  DWELL  in  the  valley  of  Conscience,  like  all  men, 

Invested  on  both  sides  by  towering  mountains. 

Self- Knowledge,  my  dwelling  I  also  may  call,  when 

I  reach  under  ground  the  mysterious  fountains. 

"  Mount  Strength,  or  Mount  Virtue,  ascends  on  the  right  hand ; 

Its  fellow  is  named,  either  Action,  or  Station  : — 
This,  lost  to  the  view  in  clouds  darker  than  night,  and 
That,  shining  in  all  the  fair  hues  of  creation. 

"  Contentment  and  service  are  paramount  duties  : 

Where  both  are  maintained  there  can  be  no  transgression  : 
Lo  !  here  I  continue,  in  sight  of  yon  beauties, 
With  cheerfulness  ploughing  my  petty  possession. 

"  Can  more  be  commanded  ?'" — Yes,  sluggard  in  spirit ! 
Hast  thou  all  forgotten  the  under-ground  fountains  ? 
Thy  shuffling  devotion  can  never  inherit 

The  riches  that  robe  the  Delectable  Mountains. 

The  flowers  and  fruits  thus  attracting  thy  vision 
Away  from  the  grandeurs  of  primal  existence, 

Like  them  must  indeed  set  at  naught  thy  ambition, 
Except  thou  unite  with  the  proffered  assistance. 

The  under-ground  fountains  connect  with  the  mountains : 
Sink  deep  through  the  covering  soil  of  thy  nature  ! 

Each  stratum  of  duty  holds  one  of  those  fountains, 
Whose  mystical  motion  shall  warrant  thy  way  sure. 

Though  every  rude  element  rises  to  frustrate, 

The  prover  of  miracles  never  shall  cower : 
The  deeper  the  doctrine  thy  life  shall  illustrate, 

The  higher  thy  virtue  shall  publish  its  power. 
108 


RIVAL   CLUES. 


"They,  measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  and  comparing  themselves 
among  themselves,  are  not  wise." — 2  COR.  x.  12. 

AMID  all  the  disputes  and  debates  of  purblind  humanity, 
there  is  one  fact  which  may  be  always  assumed  as  in 
disputable.  While  theoretical  truth  is  ever  almost  as  incom 
prehensible  as  it  is  immutable,  practical  truth,  or  demonstra 
ble  experience,  is  as  mutable  as  it  is  real.  It  is  at  least  obvi 
ously  verified  at  last  in  the  experience  of  all,  that  nothing  is 
settled  or  stationary  in  the  fashion  of  the  world  which  "  pass- 
eth  away."  The  phrase  u  established  order"  in  its  applica 
tion  to  human  institutions,  is  evidently  at  the  best  but  a  pious 
fiction  or  necessary  artifice  of  language.  In  conversation  we 
can  only  deal  with  spiritual  power  or  causation,  as  spiritual 
life  is  manifested  in  material  phenomena  and  changes ;  and 
all  mutual  intelligence  respecting  any  truly  established  order 
of  experience,  must  accordingly  imply  a  spiritual  communion 
maintained  independently  of  the  works  and  words  in  which 
it  is  embodied,  and  which  are  themselves  the  life  of  the  su 
perficial  liver.  Force  and  form,  though  in  themselves  insep 
arable,  are  contrasting,  and  too  often  conflicting  elements  of 
human  experience.  Force  is  as  fundamental  and  permanent, 
as  it  is  essentially  indemonstrable.  Form  is  as  superficial  and 
transient,  as  it  is  essentially  manifest.  Force  is  meaning: 
form  is  expression. 

Human  character  is  the  combined  result  of  selection  and 
experience.     At  the  option  of  the  agent,  it  either  floats  and 

109 


110  RIVAL    CLUES. 

drifts  recklessly  with  form,  or  it  dives  and  swims  intelligently 
with  force.  In  its  conversational  aspect,  however,  even  cha 
racter  is  necessarily  and  wholly  formal  and  mutable,  and  as 
such,  is  always,  like  other  recognized  phenomena,  a  proper 
subject  of  constant  inquiry  with  those  whose  powers  of  ab 
straction  may  not  qualify  them  for  viewing  it  in  its  essence, 
and  so  for  laboring,  here  as  elsewhere,  to  extend  rather  than 
to  define  the  boundaries  of  the  demonstrable.  The  explorer 
of  truth  must  therefore  ever  be  prepared  to  encounter  the  in 
quiry,  Who  is  greatest?  since  there  are  always  those  who  are 
thus  compelled  to  base  their  arguments  on  the  authority  of 
character.  Although  the  comparison  of  attainments  thus  in 
stituted  must  ultimately  yield  to  him  the  tribute  of  increasing 
reputation,  the  disappointment  at  the  loss  of  companionship 
on  such  occasions  is  poorly  compensated  by  the  consequence 
of  becoming  himself  an  authority,  and  would  be  a  constant 
source  of  unhappiness  to  him,  were  not  the  whole  creation 
an  inexhaustible  reservoir  of  divine  refreshment,  to  which  the 
lover  of  truth  may  ever  resort  for  communion  with  truly  kin 
dred  souls,  in  the  power  and  presence  of  the  all-sufficing  Pro 
vider.  The  alienation  where  unintentional  may  be  regarded 
as  unavoidable.  Although  a  seeming  or  formal  loss,  it  must 
then  be  an  actual  or  potential  gain  to  all  parties,  since  even 
the  servile  imitator  may  thereby  learn  that  the  inquiry,  What 
is  true?  comprehends  his  own,  and  every  subordinate  clue 
of  investigation,  and  is  not  comprehended  by  them.  Practi 
cal  incongeniality  being,  in  this  world  of  work,  the  very  voice 
of  fate,  becomes  thus  the  rule  of  rank  ;  and  as  the  majesty  of 
truth  is  imparted  to  the  independent  servants  of  truth,  the 
partisans  of  every  rival  clue  are  led  to  recognize  in  their  own 
shortcomings  the  delusions  of  all  worldly  or  finite  attainment, 
and  are  constrained  increasingly  to  respect,  if  not  to  realize, 
the  all-embracing  claims  of  religion — the  "  great  mystery  of 
godliness." 


COMPARISON. 


To  compare  is  to  show  we  suspect : 
To  suspect  is  to  publish  our  blindness  : 

To  be  blind,  where  we  ought  to  detect, 
Is  brute-dullness  or  willful  unkindness. 

For  the  Spirit  of  Unity  gives 

In  true  kindness  our  social  foundation, 

As  each  tenant  compatibly  lives 

With  the  plan  of  our  joint  habitation.* 

As  experience  ever  reveals 

His  own  powers  and  objects  in  others, 

He  who  knows  his  own  tenement,  feels 
Its  accordance,  so  far,  with  his  brother's. 

Thus  the  method  is  open  to  all 

To  employ  that  direct  intuition, 
By  whose  guidance  man  never  can  fall 

Into  dangerous  trust  or  suspicion. 

But  the  concert  of  spirit  with  form 

Is  a  riddle  which  mocks  the  unwary, 
So  that  prejudice  takes  them  by  storm 

When  the  forms  of  propriety  vary. 

For  the  Spirit  is  that  which  gives  life, 
While  the  form  is  a  fugitive  seeming, 

As  is  proved  in  that  war  to  the  knife 

Which  distinguishes  seeing  from  dreaming. 

And  the  mushroom  assurance  of  those 
By  whom  shells  are  devoured  as  kernels, 

Through  their  love  of  comparison  grows 
From  the  compost  of  cast-off  externals. 

Ye  also  are  builded  together  for  an  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit." — EPH.  ii.  22. 
10*  H  111 


FAITH   AS   A   GIFT. 


"  It  is  not  reason  that  we  should  leave  the  Word*  of  God,  and  serve 
tables."— ACTS  vi.  2. 

"  If  we  were  forced  to  form  conceptions  about  a  Son  of  God,  or  Son  of 
Man,  there  would  be  a  perpetual  strife  of  intellects  ;  there  could  be  no  con 
sent  ;  each  man  must  think  differently  from  his  neighbor, — must  try  to  estab 
lish  his  own  thoughts  against  his  neighbor's.  If  He  is  revealed  to  us  as  the 
ground  of  our  intellects, — the  Creative  Word  of  God  from  whom  they  derive 
their  light, — as  the  Centre  of  our  fellowship,  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God 
in  whom  we  are  made  the  sons  of  God ;  the  weary  effort  is  over :  our 
thoughts  may  travel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  but  here  is  their  home  :  apart 
from  Him  men  have  infinite  disagreements  ;  in  Him  they  have  peace." 

F.  D.  MAURICE. 

IT  may  be  regarded  as  a  testimony  against  the  assumption 
of  a  false  independence,  or  a  rash  reliance  upon  any 
apparent  originality  of  the  individual  human  understanding, 
that  we  are  scripturally  taught  that  u  faith  comes  by  hearing." 
It  may  equally  be  regarded  as  a  testimony  against  a  false  de 
pendence  upon  the  understandings  of  our  fellow-men,  that  it  is 
added,  "•  and  hearing  by  the  wordfof  God."  As  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  holding  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  J  it  is  evident 
that  the  words  of  God  may  become  the  words  of  designing 
men,  wrho  would  abuse  the  confidence  of  their  fellows  by 
applying  them  to  occasions  which  do  violence  to  their  spirit 
ual  meaning.  Words  are  many,  because  notions  or  ideas  are 
many,  as  the  constituent  elements  and  circumstances  of  life 
in  which  they  both  originate  are  many.  The  Word  of  Truth 
is  one,  and  is  the  Begetter  of  just  notions,  and  may  be  said  to 

*  Adyoc,  the  Word  speaking,     -j-  T^ua,  the  word  spoken.     J  ROM.  i.  18. 
112 


FAITH  AS  A    GIFT.  113 

bo  also  the  Namer  of  them,  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  their  birth.  Its  creations  may  thus  become  the  objects  of 
memory,  and  the  means  of  imposture  ;  but  It  alone  is  the  ob 
ject  of  true  faith,  and  the  unchanging  and  ever  new  meaning 
of  all  expressions,  old  or  new,  which  are  uttered  in  the 
Divine  authority,  light  and  guidance,  which  can  alone  ensure 
a  just  appreciation  of  the  circumstances.  It  is  important  to 
bear  carefully  in  mind  this  necessarily  vague  distinction  of 
spiritual  from  merely  intellectual  truth,  however  paradoxical 
or  however  obvious  it  may  be  to  different  classes  of  thinkers, 
in  order  to  avoid  the  natural  tendency,  both  to  deceive  our 
selves  by  exaggerating  the  stability  of  our  notions,  and  to  im 
pose  upon  others  by  assuming  their  universality. 

The  perspicuous,  though  elaborate,  "Apology"  of  Robert 
Barclay,  is  a  rich  reservoir  of  suggestion  upon  the  objects, 
and  consequently  upon  the  natures,  of  the  true  and  the  false 
faith.  There  appears  to  be  a  danger  in  our  day,  that  men 
shall  deny  the  possibility  of  a  false  faith.  Let  such,  if  such 
there  be,  consider  that  it  cannot  be  more  absurd  to  speak  of  a 
false  faith,  than  of  a  false  god,  or  of  a  false  church,  as  a  thing 
to  wrhich  all  are  in  danger  of  becoming  victims  if  they  do  not 
diligently  guard  their  own  hearts  ! 

The  "Apology"  is  remarkable  as  being  perhaps  the  first 
doctrinal  treatise  of  permanent  value  in  the  world,  which  en 
dorses  the  originally  scholastic,  but  now  inevitable,  distinc 
tion  between  the  subjective  and  objective  aspects  of  experi 
ence.  The  ordinary  use  of  these  terms  in  the  science  of 
Grammar,  sufficiently  defines  them.  "Subjective"  means 
of  the  originator  or  of  the  agent ;  "  Objective,"  of  the  end, 
or  of  the  material  used.  All  practice  implies  the  combina 
tion  of  the  two  aspects  ;  and  faith,  as  the  essential  principle 
of  intelligent  practice,  may  be  said  to  imply  the  concentration 
of  each.  There  must  be  pre-eminently  a  combination  of  the 
subjective  and  the  objective  aspects  of  experience,  in  the  deep, 
but  fundamental  phenomenon  of  pure  faith. 

Previously  to  the  formal  discrimination  of  these  opposite, 


114  FAITH  AS  A    GIFT. 

though  consistent  aspects  of  faith,  it  is  obvious  that  the  think 
er  who  was  regarding  it  from  one  point  of  view,  would  be 
apt  to  speak  of  the  opposite  aspect  as  a  mere  quality  of  faith, 
rather  than  the  thing  itself.  While  we  read  of  faith  as  being 
in  itself  "  a  substance,"  we  also  read,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the 
"obedience  of  faith,"  which  is  evidently  its  essential  condi 
tion  ;  and  on  the  other,  of  the  "  assurance  of  faith,"  which  is 
its  most  apparent  result  and  indication,  and  which  according 
ly  in  a  superficial  view  may  be  mistaken  for  the  substance. 
In  this  comparatively  superficial  and  secondary  sense,  it  is 
undeniable  that  faith  is  a  gift ;  and  a  gift  of  such  importance 
as  to  account  for  its  being  scripturally  enumerated  as  such 
among  the  other  graces  of  the  Spirit.  But  that  it  is  not  to  be 
recognized  as  a  part  of  the  free  and  universal  grace  which 
has  been  so  dearly  purchased  for  us  in  advance  of  our  own 
co-operation,  is  plainly  intimated  by  a  precise  interpretation 
of  Eph.  ii.  8  ("it  is  the  gift  of  God"),  and  by  Heb.  iv.  2 
(u  the  word  preached  did  not  profit  them,  not  being  mixed 
with  faith  in  them  that  heard  it").  The  slightest  acquaint 
ance  with  the  Greek  language  suffices  to  show  that  in  the 
former  of  these  texts,  it  is  the  salvation,  and  not  the  faith, 
which  is  called  "  the  gift."  In  an  argumentative  exhorta 
tion,  does  not  this  prompt  reiteration  of  the  view  of  the  divine 
mercy  imply  that,  by  the  mention  of  faith,  the  apostle  was 
conscious  of  having  interposed  the  view  of  something  which 
must  be  "of  ourselves?"  In  the  latter  text,  faith  is  evidently 
referred  to  exclusively  in  the  aspect  of  obedience  or  submis 
sion. 

Some  extracts  from  the  concluding  section  of  Barclay's 
defence  of  the  second  Proposition  of  his  "  Apology,"  upon 
the  subject  of  Revelation,  may  perhaps  here  serve  to  illustrate 
"the  form  of  sound  words"  which,  as  discovered,  we  are  en 
joined  to  maintain  through  all  the  advances  of  faith. 

"  To  make  an  end,  I  shall  add  one  argument  to  prove,  that 
this  inward,  immediate,  objective  revelation,  which  we  have 
pleaded  for  all  along,  is  the  only  sure,  certain  and  unmov- 


FAITH  AS  A    GIFT.  115 

able  foundation  of  all  Christian  faith  ;  which  argument,  when 
well  weighed,  I  hope  will  have  weight  with  all  sorts  of 
Christians  ;  and  it  is  this  : 

"  That  which  all  professors  of  Christianity,  of  what  kind 
soever,  are  forced  ultimately  to  recur  unto  when  pressed  to 
the  last ;  and  that  for  and  because  of  which  all  other  founda 
tions  are  recommended,  and  accounted  worthy  to  be  believed, 
and  without  which  they  are  granted  to  be  of  no  weight  at  all, 
must  needs  be  the  only  most  true,  certain,  and  immovable 
foundation  of  all  Christian  faith. 

u  But  inward,  immediate  objective  revelation  by  the  Spirit, 
is  that  which  all  professors  of  Christianity  are  forced  ulti 
mately  to  recur  unto,  etc. 

"  First,  as  to  the  Papists,  they  place  their  foundation  in 
the  judgment  of  the  Church  and  tradition.  If  we  press  them 
to  say,  Why  they  believe  as  the  Church  doth  ?  their  answer 
is,  Because  the  Church  is  always  led  by  the  infallible  Spirit. 
So  here  the  leading  of  the  Spirit  is  the  utmost  foundation. 
Again,  if  we  ask  them,  Why  we  ought  to  trust  tradition? 
they  answer,  Because  these  traditions  were  delivered  unto 
us  by  the  doctors  and  fathers  of  the  Church;  which  doctors 
and  fathers,  by  the  revelation  of  the  floly  Ghost,  com 
manded  the  Church  to  observe  them.  Here  again  all  ends 
in  the  revelation  of  the  Spirit. 

"  As  for  the  Protestants  and  Socinians,  both  which  ac 
knowledge  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  foundation  and  rule  of 
their  faith  ;  the  one  as  subjectively  influenced  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  to  use  them,  the  other  as  managing  them  with  and  by 
their  own  reason  ;  ask  both,  or  either  of  them,  Why  they  trust 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  take  them  to  be  their  rule?  their  an 
swer  is,  Because  we  have  in  them  the  mind  of  God  delivered 
unto  us  by  those  to  whom  these  things  were  inwardly,  im 
mediately,  and  objectively  revealed  by  the  Spirit  of  God; 
and  not  because  this  or  that  man  wrote  them,  but  because  the 
Spirit  of  God  dictated  them. 

"Therefore,  this  inward,  immediate,  objective  revelation  by 


n6  FAITH  AS  A    GIFT. 

the  Spirit,  is  the  only  sure,  certain,  and  immovable  founda 
tion  of  all  Christian  faith. 

"  It  is  strange  that  men  should  render  [2.  <?.,  account  and 
report]]  that  so  uncertain  and  dangerous  to  follow,  upon  which 
alone  the  certain  ground  and  foundation  of  their  own  faith  is 
built ;  or  that  they  should  shut  themselves  out  from  that  holy 
fellowship  with  God,  which  is  only  enjoyed  in  the  Spirit,  in 
which  we  are  commanded  both  to  walk  and  to  live. 

"  Wait  then  for  this  in  the  small  revelation  of  that  pure 
light  which  first  reveals  things  more  known  ;  and  as  thou 
becomest  fitted  for  it,  thou  shalt  receive  more  and  more,  and 
by  a  living  experience  easily  refute  their  ignorance  who  ask, 
How  dost  thou  know  that  thou  art  actuated  by  the  Spirit  of 
God?  Which  will  appear  to  thee  a  question  no  less  ridicu 
lous  than  to  ask  one  whose  eyes  are  open,  How  he  knows  the 
sun  shines  at  noonday  ?  And  though  this  be  the  surest  and 
certainest  way  to  answer  all  objections  ;  yet  by  what  is  above 
written  it  may  appear,  that  the  mouths  of  all  such  opposers 
as  deny  this  doctrine  may  be  shut,  by  unquestionable  and 
unanswerable  reasons." 


FORM. 


MAKE  not  too  light  of  form  !     All  faith 

Implies  a  system.     First, 

'Tis  true,  the  germ  must  burst 
Its  shell ;  but  as  it  grows  it  saith  : 

'*  A  grain  of  living  seed  am  I : 
I  drop  my  rigid  shell 
Which  served  my  need  so  well, 
And  to  my  old  existence  die. 

"And  still  I  live.     I  do  not  scorn 

That  shape,  once  so  secure  ; 
But  still  its  marks  endure, 
While  my  free  strength  is  upward  borne. 

"  I  know  not  how  I  live  and  grow, 
Except  that  with  my  eye 
I  love  the  light,  and  die 
To  naught  through  which  my  life  can  flow. 

"  New  forms  come  o'er  me  :  their  design 
I  act,  but  may  not  search. 
And  yet  in  nature's  church 
Some  humble  consequence  is  mine. 

"  They  come  and  go  :  but  through  them  all 
I  am  myself,  and  still 
Reflect  that  Sovereign  Will 
To  which  the  universe  is  thrall." 

So  let  thy  life  its  worship  show  ! 

Do  homage  to  his  might; 

Eye  lovingly  his  light ; 
Nor  scorn  through  fleeting  forms  to  grow ! 

117 


THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL. 


"  Keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence ;  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life." — 
PROV.  iv.  23. 

BY  the  law  of  Comparison  which  must  govern  our  estimate 
of  all  external  things  so  far  as  they  may  be  imaginarily, 
either  willingly  or  unwillingly,  abstracted  from  their  internal 
relations,  the  demonstrable  objects  of  knowledge  are  divided 
into  things  general  and  things  particular.  Only  by  this  law 
is  there  any  force  in  the  contrasted  terms  Whole  and  Part,  or 
Summary  and  Detail  ;  and  since  comparison  itself  is  a  pro 
cess  rather  than  a  fact,  even  the  distinction  thus  imparted 
becomes  as  fugitive  in  its  realization,  as  it  was  faulty  in  its 
foundation.  The  process  itself  therefore  becomes  more  worthy 
of  our  attention,  than  the  objects  of  it;  and  this  we  at  once 
find  to  be  appreciable  in  two  aspects,  according  to  the  direc 
tion  in  which  the  intelligent  subject  may  be  said  to  move  in 
its  performance.  So  far  as  his  course  of  investigation  may 
be  one  of  mere  dissipation,  his  knowledge  of  generals  will 
be  lost  in  that  of  particulars,  and  he  may  be  less  justly  said  ac 
tively  to  analyze,  than  passively  to  decompose.  So  far  as  his 
course  may  be  one  of  labor  and  aspiration,  his  analysis  will 
be  but  the  prelude  to  a  synthesis  of  re-composition,  or  new 
composition,  and  he  will  thus  ascend  from  the  knowledge  of 
particulars  to  that  of  generals. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  cause,  the  fact  is  a  glaring 

one,  that  it  is  only  through  analysis  that  we  rise  to  synthesis. 

Every  man  naturally  tends  to  rely  upon  some  partial  phase 

of  truth  which  is  his  ideal  of  Deity,  if  not  the  "  god  of  his 

118 


THE   KNOWLEDGE    OF   GOOD  AND   EVIL.       119 

idolatry,"  so  long  as  his  nature  remains  undeveloped  into  the 
perfect  catholicity  of  pure  love.  Appetite;  intellect;  the 
moral  wealth  or  credit  which  consists  in  the  possession  of 
reputation  ;  the  more  glaringly  material  blessings  which  are 
in  like  manner  represented  by  money  ;  even  a  genuine  human 
fellowship  so  far  as  it  can  be  maintained  out  of  a  conscious 
subordination  to  the  Divine  Power  and  impersonal  principles 
of  truth,  are  all  to  be  classed  among  external  things,  and  are 
mere  surfaces  and  semblances  of  substantial  good.  They  are 
alike  dangerous  abstractions,  although  temporarily  necessary 
to  stay  the  longings  of  our  fragmentary  nature  for  the  one 
undeceitful  and  eternal  concrete.  At  best  they  are  but  finite 
and  fugitive  forms  of  the  One  Infinite  and  Immutable  Force. 
It  is  necessary  for  us  to  recognize  them  as  practical  powers  ; 
but  it  is  possible  to  elevate  them  from  the  service  of  guides  to 
the  station  of  idols,  and  to  sacrifice  to  them  our  hope  of  per 
fect  good,  instead  of  devoting  them  continually  upon  the  altar 
of  truth,  as  the  price  and  proof  of  progress  in  the  knowledge 
of  God. 

By  the  intellect,  or  mind,  the  truth  is  known  in  its  details. 
Only  by  faith  and  hope  can  it  be  approached  in  its  integrity, 
and  only  by  love  can  it  be  finally  and  perfectly  realized.  The 
intellect  is  the  storehouse  of  knowledge,  but  the  heart  is  its 
living  source,  because  it  is  the  seat  of  spiritual  belief.  The 
trust  in  intellect  may  therefore  be  called  a  false  faith,  as  open 
ing  a  door  for  the  delusions  of  self  and  Satan.  u  In  vain  the 
net  is  spread  in  the  sight  of  any  bird."  It  is  only  as  we  prac 
tically  ignore  the  dependence  of  head-work  upon  heart-work, 
that  the  Power  of  evil  can  profit  by  our  limitations,  and  make 
us  pervert  to  our  loss  the  lessons  of  experience  by  which  we 
might  otherwise  "go  on  to  perfection." 

The  head  may  be  termed  the  seat  of  form,  as  the  heart  is 
that  of  force.  Accordingly,  since  knowledge  is  the  command 
of  mere  forms,  while  realization  includes  also  that  of  forces, 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  may  evidently  be  the  occa 
sion,  although  it  cannot  be  the  cause,  of  disobedience  to  the 
11 


120       THE  KNOWLEDGE    OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL. 

law  written  or  spoken  in  the  heart.  The  cause  must  evidently 
be  a  want  of  faith  in  the  unseen,  and  a  consequent  dependence 
upon  the  deceitful  forms  of  knowledge.  Forsaking  the  true 
inspiration,  man  is  at  the  mercy  of  a  false  inspiration  which 
can  act  upon  him  only  by  an  appeal  to  some  sort  of  precedent. 
Rejecting  the  privilege  of  co-operating  with  an  ever  present 
and  almighty  Creator,  he  then  shuts  himself  in  the  tomb  of 
past  experiences.  His  work  of  synthesis  may  be  but  begun, 
when  he  shall  forsake  it  in  a  voluntary  blindness,  and  descend 
into  that  of  a  fruitless  analysis.  Let  him  beware  of  so  real 
izing  the  decomposition  of  corruption  ! 

Blessed  indeed  and  for  ever  be  the  Eternal  Father  of  Spirits 
for  the  advent  of  the  Second  Adam,  who  through  all  dangers 
and  temptations,  is  u  mighty  to  save  and  able  to  deliver  all 
them  that  come  unto  God  by  Him !" 


IMMORTALITY. 


SOME  dreaming  souls  there  are  in  this  dim  world, 
Who  care  not  to  discern  the  Why  and  How 

That  Will  appears,  whose  power  of  old  unfurled, 
And  still  expands,  the  streaming  I  and  Now. 

To  them  creation  is  a  lie  ;  and  fate 

The  mirror  of  their  life,  which  represents 

Confusion  and  distress  as  the  estate, 
And  final  grave,  of  all  the  elements. 

Too  torpid  they  the  urgent  signs  to  heed 
Of  that  primeval  One,  whose  skill  supreme 

Called  forth  from  naught,  or  from  Himself  decreed, 
The  scenes  which  decorate  their  willful  dream. 

Alike  unknown  to  them  the  supplement 
To  that  prime  miracle  ;— how  life  prevails 

O'er  death,  by  healing  grace,  with  force  not  spent, 
But  fed,  in  graver  or  more  trifling  ails. 

Thus  never  come,  but  always  going,  life 

To  them,  it  seems,  suggests  no  mystery. 
The  I  and  Now  with  them  are  so  at  strife, 

The  Why  and  How  they  cannot  wish  to  see. 

So  may  we  know  the  central  Source  of  light, 

So  may  its  flood  our  finite  measures  fill, 
That  the  creative  and  redemptive  Might 

May  prove  in  every  pass  our  treasure  still ! 

Then  fate  to  us  can  offer  no  dismay : 

The  star  that  brightly  sets  is  never  gone  ; 

But  through  the  spheral  sky  of  faith,  with  ray 
Unfaltering  moves,  and  shines  for  ever  on. 

121 


SINCERITY   AND   SENSIBILITY. 


"The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  Him." — Ps.  xxv.  14. 

"  If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine." — JOHN  vii.  17. 

A  LTKOUGH  there  is  no  identity,  there  is  certainly  no 
Jr\.  incompatibility,  between  wisdom  and  knowledge. 
Their  difference  is  indeed  obvious  to  the  reflecting  observer, 
but  it  may  perhaps  here  be  appropriately  remarked  that  wis 
dom  is  a  state  of  the  soul,  while  knowledge  is  a  process  of 
intercourse  between  the  soul  and  outward  things.  Their  re 
lation  to  each  other  is  the  same  as  that  which  exists  between 
physical  health  and  physical  performance.  Accordingly,  as 
knowledge,  by  the  testimony  of  universal  experience,  is  prac 
tically  equivalent  to  physical  power  of  every  kind,  wisdom  is 
obviously,  as  the  voice  of  inspiration  anciently  declared,  "  the 
principal  thing,"  or  that  which  is  worthy  to  be  pursued  and 
cherished  as  the  only  permanent  channel  of  every  inferior 
blessing.  Remembering  that  the  relation  of  the  internal  to 
the  external  is  that  of  cause  to  effect,  we  may  describe  the 
order  of  human  experience  by  saying  that  performance  is  the 
surface  of  health,  health  the  surface  of  knowledge,  and  knowl 
edge  the  surface  of  sensibility  or  active  wisdom.  Cannot  the 
state  of  wisdom  be  also  viewed  as  a  still  more  recondite  pro 
cess  of  some  deeper  and  simpler  element  of  being?  Let  us 
examine  whether  it  be  not  itself  a  comparatively  outward 
manifestation  of  secret  sincerity  of  soul,  and  whether  the  con 
venient  distinction  between  states  and  processes  be  not  ever  a 
merely  relative  one,  whose  line  of  division  recedes  before  the 
penetration  of  the  inquirer,  as  does  that  between  the  internal 
122 


SINCERITY  AND   SENSIBILITY.  123 

and  the  external  in  every  field  of  research.  The  investigation 
may  seem  to  deal  in  insignificant  refinements  ;  but  let  us  ever 
remember  that  in  what  may  be  called  intellectual  optics,  as 
in  the  physical  science,  the  same  principles,  which,  when 
applied  in  one  direction,  may  bring  into  view  the  most  distant 
recesses  of  the  field  of  vision,  in  the  other  may  reveal  the  har 
monious  order  by  which  the  infinitely  small  co-operates  with 
the  infinitely  vast.  Let  us  explicitly  inquire  whether  the  wis 
dom  which  is  passive  as  compared  with  practical  knowledge, 
may  not  be  regarded  as  active  from  a  more  internal  point  of 
view  ;  and,  if  so,  by  what  terms  we  shall  designate  the  rela 
tively  passive  and  active,  or  internal  and  external  results  of 
our  more  advanced  analysis. 

As  neither  power  nor  consciousness,  although  to  an  evident 
extent  under  our  own  control,  can  be  said  to  originate  in  our 
own  volition,  every  human  being  may  be  said  to  be  practically 
a  compound  of  materials  and  susceptibilities.  The  secondary 
phenomena  of  power  and  consciousness  being  determined  by 
the  greater  or  less  harmony  of  the  human  will  with  the  Di 
vine  Will,  even  the  human  will,  being  thus  at  best  but  a 
power  of  choice  between  the  solicitations  of  more  potent  in 
fluences,  must  practically  rank  with  mere  susceptibilities  or 
capacities.  As  the  link,  however,  between  the  agent  and  the 
impersonal  power  of  his  action,  it  is  evidently  the  bond  of 
unity  to  his  whole  life,  so  far  as  he  may  lead  a  consistent  life. 
If,  then,  by  this  power  of  choice  he  shall  devote  himself  to 
the  service  of  the  Omnipresent  Spirit  of  Good,  its  inwardly 
and  outwardly  uniting  influence  must  preserve  him  from  the 
dividing  influence  of  the  adverse  Spirit  of  Evil  ;  and  his  life 
will  exhibit  the  impress  of  sincerity  to  those  who,  by  a  like 
acquaintance  with  the  source  of  sincerity,  are  qualified  to  ap 
preciate  its  harmonious  manifestations.  Sincerity  being  thus, 
whether  recognized  or  not,  the  pervading  trait,  not  only  of  his 
manifest  actions,  but  of  all  the  peculiarities  of  character  by 
which  he  may  be  distinguished  from  other  agents,  and  which 
only  may  strictly  be  called  his  individual  traits,  becomes  evi- 
11* 


124  SINCEKITT  AND    SENSIBILITY. 

dentlv  with  all  such  the  individual   channel  or   measure  of 
power,  and  the  basis  of  true,  manly  consciousness. 

Power  being  thus  inseparable  from  consciousness  in  spiritual 
experience,  the  two  must  increase  or  decrease  together.  As 
sincerity  is  another  name  for  individual  power,  so  is  sensibil 
ity  for  individual  consciousness.  The  sphere  of  perception 
must  clearly  rise  with  that  of  action,  as  the  course  of  attain 
ment  successively  reduces  the  objects  of  our  short-sighted,  al 
though  spiritual,  aspirations,  to  the  rank  of  animal  qualifica 
tions,  so  that  the  capacity  of  appreciation  will  ever  continue 
to  be  a  measure  of  the  capacitv  of  performance.  In  other 
words  sensibility  will  ever  keep  pace  with  sincerity,  and  be 
the  active  component  of  wisdom,  so  far  as  it  may  be  neces 
sary  to  distinguish  wisdom  from  knowledge,  and  the  con 
scious  royal  and  priestly  man,  from  the  superficial  and  servile 
human  machine.  We  recognize  morality  as  a  living  power, 
or  the  true  handmaid  of  religion,  when  we  proclaim,  in  the 
language  of  a  venerable  teacher,*  that  sincerity  is  its  '•'touch 
stone." 

*  DANIEL  B.  SMITH,  of  Philadelphia. 


SCEPTRES. 


WHAT  sceptre  \vill  the  model  monarch  wield, 
Ai  which  the  demon  Anarchy  shall  yield 
His  horrid  waste,  and  perish  on  the  field? 

The  sword  affrights  :  but  how,  if  FEAR  be  lord 

Shall  Anarchy  not  often  be  restored 

As  blind  Contention  shall  her  aid  afford  ? 

Gold  weighs  and  shines  :  right  strong  'twould  seem  is  GOLD. 
But  how  shall  stand  a  thousand,  so  controlled, 
Before  one  will  which  never  has  been  sold  ? 

Friendship  may  smile  ;  and  LoVE  is  surely  strong, 
Were  smiles  but  love,  the  fiend  could  live  not  long, 
But  love  avowed,  means  license,  to  the  throng. 

To  sway  the  throng  the  sceptre  must  be  twined. 
Three  rigid  cords  in  one  must  be  combined, 
Ere  stands  the  rule  which  shall  not  be  resigned. 

Take  purity,  which  shuns  diverting  cares ; 
Patience,  to  which  contempt  its  secret  bares  ; 
And  vigilance,  which  no  occasion  spares. 

Where  LOVE  shall  move  embodied  in  these  three ; 
Hiding  and  hidden,  where  they  all  agree  ; 
There  shall  be  waved  the  wand  of  Majesty. 

125 


AFFECTATION   AND   EMULATION. 


"  Men  are  but  children  of  a  larger  growth."— OLD  PROVERB. 

A  PPEARANCES  are  manifold  and  mysterious :  realities 
JL\.  are  few  and  simple.  Substantial  good  and  essential 
evil,  therefore,  however  readily  distinguished  by  those  whose 
faculties,  in  the  words  of  the  Apostle,  are  "  exercised  by  rea 
son  of  use,"  are  sadly  confounded  by  those  who  have  not 
learned  to  look  beneath  appearances.  None  but  those  who 
understand  the  divine  command  to  "judge  not  according  to 
the  appearance,"  need  attempt  to  obey  the  subsequent  apos 
tolic  precept,  u  abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil,"  since  it 
is  evident,  on  the  one  hand,  that  they  alone  can  know  wh;u 
a  true  appearance  of  evil  is  ;  and  on  the  other,  that  any,  in 
shunning  a  false  appearance  of  it,  must  be  shunning  a  real- 
good. 

Let  it  be  remembered  then,  that  appearances  are  to  be 
studied,  and  cultivated  or  suppressed,  only  so  far  as  they  are 
incidental  to  realities,  and  not  as  they  may  depend  on  the 
fallible  notions  of  our  fellow-men,  which  they  alone,  of  mor 
tals,  can  rectify.  Thus  we  may  hope  to  avoid  the  vice  of 
affectation,  and  to  grow  in  consistency  by  the  practice  of  a 
true  independence. 

As  affectation  is  the  frequent  foible  of  advanced  years,  so 
emulation  is  the  besetting  danger  of  the  season  of  youth  ;  for 
it  also  may  be  said  to  have  its  source  in  an  undue  regard  for 
mere  appearances.  Both  evils  may  exist  in  varying  degrees, 
although  either  of  course  becomes  generally  conspicuous  only 
when  unusually  intense.  They  differ  in  the  circumstance  that 
126 


A FFE C  TA  TION  A ND  EMUL  A  TION.  I  2 7 

while  affectation  becomes  conspicuous  only  through  extra 
ordinary  ignorance  of  the  subject  which  is  the  occasion  of  it, 
emulation  is  most  obvious  when  it  is  joined  with  extraordinary 
knowledge.  When  not  thus  joined,  emulation  often  appears 
as  a  desire  rather  to  eoual  those  who  may  be  in  advance 
of  us,  than  to  surpass  those  who  are  in  the  same  stage  of 
progress,  and  thus  becomes  more  indistinguishable  from  a 
laudable  love  of  approbation.  In  both  cases,  however,  the 
stimulus  of  mere  emulation  is  distinguishable,  to  a  disinter 
ested  observer,  from  that  of  the  pure  love  of  truth  and  good 
report,  by  the  different  effects  of  success  and  failure  upon  the 
different  aspirants.  Where  emulation  is  the  motive,  success 
will  be  followed  by  a  temporary  relaxation  of  zeal,  the  appa 
rent  earnestness  of  the  worker  giving  place  to  a  real  levity 
of  manner,  because  the  motive  itself  fails,  and  no  stream  can 
flow  faster  or  higher  than  its  source.  To  the  sincere  lover  of 
truth,  on  the  other  hand,  present  success  is  valuable  chiefly 
as  an  opening  for  future  progress  in  truth,  and  accordingly 
stimulates  him  at  once,  though  perhaps  unconsciously,  to  re 
newed  exertion.  For  the  same  reasons  the  occasional  failure 
which  in  the  one  case  brings  manifest  pain  and  mortification, 
is  encountered  in  the  other  without  disappointment,  and  may 
even  afford  apparent  encouragement  through  the  new  sugges 
tions  which  it  is  always  able  to  supply. 

The  intelligent  Christian  needs  but  little  argument  to  re 
mind  him,  that  an  escape  from  both  affectation  and  emulation 
is  to  be  found  only  in  the  earnestness  of  purpose,  which  the 
religion  of  the  Cross  only  can  supply  to  those  in  whose  ex 
perience  there  is  any  remaining  antagonism  between  realities 
and  appearances.  In  individual  as  in  social  life,  it  alone  is 
the  reconciling  agency,  through  which  the  only  Saviour  of 
men  "  slays  the  enmity"  of  the  discordant  elements,  "  making 
in  Himself  of  twain  one  new  man,  so  making  peace." 

I 


BUCKRAM. 


THE  good  and  ill  combine  in  every  breast, 

Like  sheep  and  goats  within  the  seeming  chunh, 

Or  wheat  and  tares,  confused  and  unconfessed 
Until  the  harvest-binders'  rigid  search. 

But  not  the  less  may  every  human  heart 

Which  owns  the  Light  that  shines  upon  its  sores, 

And  courts  the  heavenly  breeze,  and  bears  the  smart 
By  which  its  inward  balm  to  health  restores, — 

Not  less  shall  he  who  makes  that  Light  his  home, 
Each  end  from  its  beginning  learn  to  see. 

The  day  of  judgment,  thus  already  come, 
To  its  disclosures  summons  thee  and  me. 

The  mongrel  traits  in  thy  heart  and  in  mine, 
Strange  offspring  of  contending  good  and  ill, 

As  thus  discerned  shall  show  their  clear  design, 
Nor  fickle  nature  veil  the  constant  will. 

The  charity  which  grafts  the  soul  in  God, 
And  from  such  union  all  its  increase  knows, 

Shall  stand  unmoved  when  earth  and  heaven  shall  nod, 
The  earth  and  heaven  of  willful  works  and  shows. 

The  earnestness  which  breeds  self-sacrifice, 

Of  charity  must  largely  be  inspired, 
Though  oft  appearing  zealous  more  than  wise, 

And  safely  gain  the  glorious  goal  desired. 

But  he  who  takes  the  stiffness  for  the  strength, 
And  imitates  thereby  the  earnest  man, 

Shall  lean  upon  a  broken  reed  at  length. 

Let  thee  and  me  our  own  foundation  scan  ! 
128 


ASSURANCE,  SENTIMENTAL  AND   PRAC 
TICAL. 


"  He  that  doeth  these  things  shall  never  be  moved." — Ps.  xv.  5. 
"  That  ye  may  have  somewhat  to  answer  them  which  glory  in  appearance, 
and  not  in  heart."— 2  COR.  v.  12. 

IT  is  so  evidently  disgraceful  for  man,  as  a  being  created 
in  the  image  of  God,  to  be  living  in  a  state  of  mental 
suspense,  or  in  any  sort  of  dependence  on  mere  circumstances, 
that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  mere  reputation  of 
holy  assurance,  or  settlement  of  soul  and  fixity  of  purpose, 
should  often  be  a  coveted  prize  with  those  who  are  ignorant 
of  the  reality.  The  true  rule  for  distinguishing  between  a 
pretended  assurance  and  a  real  one,  thus  becomes  a  matter 
of  importance  to  the  sincere  inquirer  and  earnest  worker,  so 
far  as  he  may  be  required  in  any  way  to  respond  to  the  pre 
tensions  or  professions  of  his  fellow-men. 

Here  as  elsewhere  general  doctrine  can  be  approached  only 
by  the  way  of  particular  experience,  and  enforced  by  an  ap 
peal  to  the  same.  There  is  a  modest  egotism  and  a  cautious 
dogmatism  which  are  less  open  to  the  insinuation  of  error 
than  officious  self-depreciation  or  ambitious  argumentation  ; 
and  the  most  enthusiastic  propagandism  cannot  substitute  in 
dividual  heart-work,  nor  communicate  the  vision  in  which 
alone  heart  is  said  to  answer  to  heart,  "as  face  to  face"  in 
outward  reflection.  (Prov.  xxvii.  19.)  "We  preach,"  wrote 
the  great  apostle  of  doctrine,  "  not  ourselves,  but  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord  ;  and  ourselves  your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake" 
(2  Cor.  iv.  5)  :  and  again,  ranking  himself  among  the  learners. 

129 


13°  ASSURANCE,   SENTIMENTAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

"Whereto  we  have  already  attained,  let  us  walk  by  the  same 
rule,  let  us  mind  the  same  thing."  (Phil.  iii.  16.) 

Of  the  faith  which  may  be  had  "  to  ourselves  before  God" 
as  the  same  teacher  elsewhere  enjoins  (Rom.  xiv.  22),  we  of 
course  cannot  directly  demonstrate  the  grounds,  one  to  an 
other.  It  is  of  those  relations  to  man,  which  though  similar 
to  our  relations  to  God,  are  subordinate  thereto,  or  are  involved 
in  them,  and  so  rather  imply  than  involve  those  superior  ties, 
it  is  of  these  alone  that  we  can  hope  clearly  to  demonstrate 
the  nature  and  operation  to  each  other.  The  assurance  that 
he  has  discharged  his  duty  toward  men,  and  is  therefore  free 
from  any  particular  obligation  to  others  resulting  from  pre 
vious  trespass  or  neglect  on  his  own  part,  is  therefore  the 
highest  practical  prerogative  which  may  be  claimed  for  the 
Christian  freeman,  or  that  by  which  he  pre-eminently  main 
tains  his  position  and  influence  in  the  world  of  society. 

This  practical  or  social  assurance  may  be  said  to  consist  in 
the  habitual  consciousness  of  self-sacrifice  or  devotion.*  De 
votion  to  man  is  a  more  distinct  object  of  consciousness  than 
devotion' to  God,  simply  because  we  are  more  continually 
reminded  of  our  past  services  to  one  another  by  the  almost 
necessary  imperfectness  of  their  appreciation.  The  humble 
Christian  is  reminded  of  his  past  service  to  God,  only  by  its 
abundant  remuneration  ;  and  his  appreciation  of,  or  thank 
fulness  for  this,  is  often  too  far  from  being  continual,  so  that 
his  assurance  God-ward  may  be  less  conscious,  if  not  less  real, 
than  his  assurance  man-ward.  As  is  set  forth  in  the  parable 
of  the  Unjust  Steward,  "the  children  of  this  world"  may 
upon  this  point  be  more  discerning  respecting  "  the  children 
of  light,"  than  they  themselves  are,  "  in  their  generation." 
The  same  weakness  of  an  immature  faith  is  clearly  intimated 
in  the  oft-quoted  interrogatory,  "If  a  man  love  not  his  brother 
whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God,  whom  he  hath  not 
seen  ?"j~  and  may  well  account  for  the  greater  attainability  and 
more  frequent  appearance  of  the  lower  order  of  assurance; 
*  See  p.  131,  margin.  f  I  JOHN  iv  20. 


ASSURANCE,  SENTIMENTAL   AND  PRACTICAL.    131 

among  those  who  are  as  yet  only  on  the  way  to  the  state  of 
the  spiritual  man,  who  "  judgeth  all  things." 

We  may  infer  tluen  that  the  strongest  assignable  evidence 
of  that  higher  assurance  God-ward  is  to  be  found  in  this  lower 
assurance  man-ward,  which,  with  its  naturally  attendant  graces 
of  accessibility,  geniality  and  frankness,  is  at  once  essential 
and  sufficient  for  the  preservation  of  merely  social  position. 
It  may  be  regarded,  to  borrow  a  scriptural  simile,  as  the 
candle-stick  of  the  Gospel  candle,  whether  the  flame  of  in 
dividual  aspiration  may  as  yet  be  confined  to  the  form  of  con 
fession  and  prayer,  or  whether  it  may  have  expanded  into 
that  of  praise  and  boasting  in  God  alone.  Where  this  prin 
ciple  is  justly  appreciated,  there  can  be  little  or  no  danger  of 
a  mere  general  doctrinal  profession  being  allowed  to  super 
sede  that  specific  personal  confession,  which  "•  is  made  unto 
salvation"  as  the  fruit  of  repentance  and  the  pledge  of  amend 
ment. 

***  \_N°te  to  2d  Edition  :  see  reference  from  p.  fjo.~] 

Let  not  an  erratic  zeal  or  a  false  humility  carp  at  this  sentiment  as  being 
self-conceited.  There  can  be  no  practical  Christianity  without  a  more  or 
less  thorough  "self-sacrifice  and  devotion;"  nor  any  real  self-sacrifice  and 
devotion,  without  ensuing  consciousness  of  the  same,  and  the  ability  and 
occasional  duty  to  assert  it.  Hence  that  apostolic  paradox,  already  cited, 
"  We  preach  not  ourselves,  but .  .  .  ourselves,  etc." 

12 


TONE. 


THE  crown  of  virtue  is  endurance  ; — 
That  time,  and  time's  o'erturnings, 

May  not  subdue  her  mild  assurance, 
Or  dissipate  her  earnings. 

Her  gathered  strength,  and  current  favor 
Rare  tact,  and  common  chattel, 

Maintain  the  ranks  which  shall  not  waver 
Through  life's  unceasing  battle. 

"  But  by  what  magic,  or  what  training, 

Rules  she  her  matchless  legions, 
Herself  and  them  so  well  sustaining 
Through  dark  and  hostile  regions  ?" 

Lo  !  virtue  is  the  Sun  of  heaven, 
Which  lays  each  night-born  terror, 

And  quickens  with  transforming  leaven 
The  very  mists  of  error  ! 

"  Yes  !  such  is  virtue  in  her  pureness. 

But  how  can  mortals  reach  her, 
Whose  thinking  sullies  all  their  sureness, 
Or  other  erring  teacher  ?" 

Inconstant  heart !  forsake  thy  doubting  ! 

The  sun  thou  knowest  by  vision, 
Doth  not  salute  thy  ear  with  shouting 

To  deepen  thy  decision. 

Lift  watchfully  to  virtue's  shinings 

The  worship  of  thy  spirit, 
And  thou  shalt  yet  with  her  refinings 

Her  energies  inherit ! 
132 


RULES   OF   RATIONAL   CONVERSATION. 


"  To  him  that  ordereth  his  conversation  aright  will  I  show  the  salvation  of 
God."— Ps.  1.  23. 

"  By  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou  shall  be  con 
demned." — MATT.  xii.  37. 

I.  UNIVERSAL,  OR  ABSOLUTE. 

A.  LET  there  be  but  one  subject  whose  nature  and  connec 
tions  are  to  be  examined  and  discussed  at  one  time. 

II.  CONDITIONAL,  OR  RELATIVE. 

B.  Let  the  subject  thus   immediately  under  consideration 
be  always,  if  possible,  a  thing,  act  or  principle,  and  not  a 
person  or  character. 

C.  Where  any  one,  from  incapacity  or  heedlessness,  finds 
it  more  easy  to  judge  an  agent  as  evil  or  as  good,  than  to  de 
fine  the  evil  or  the  good  of  his  action  or  language,  and  pro 
ceeds  to  the  expression  of  such  judgment,  let  him  promptly 
and  modestly,  if  invited,  confess  the  motive  of  zeal  or  benev 
olence  which  actuated  him  :   but,  if  he  shall  find  upon  reflec 
tion  that  he  could  honestly  and  charitably  have  judged  the 
performance  rather  than  the  performer,  or  wholly  have  sup 
pressed  his  judgment,  let  him  not  attempt  any  such  justifica 
tion  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  if  permitted,  acknowledge  and  con 
demn  the  transgression  of  his  lips,  briefly,  but  unreservedly. 

General  Remarks.  There  is  something  which  is  almost 
contradictory  in  the  very  mention  of  an  Universal  Rule ; 
since  by  a  Rule  we  mean  nothing  less  than  an  intelligible 

133 


134         XULES    OF  RATIONAL    CONVERSATION. 

principle  or  clue  which  may  lead  us  through  a  labyrinth  of  un 
known  because  ever  multiplying  circumstances.  The  verbal 
demonstration  of  any  intelligible  principle  to  be  univers 
ally  applicable  to  circumstances  which  are  in  any  sense  un 
known,  is  indeed  a  hopeless  task.  The  epithet  Universal  is 
therefore  here  of  importance,  not  as  one  which  is  safe  from 
the  chance  of  misconception,  but  merely  as  one  which  is 
necessary  to  denote  the  difference  which  appears  by  a  com 
parison  of  the  first  rule  with  the  two  others.  If  either  of  the 
three  is  of  any  value,  it  is  because  there  is  a  spirit  in  it  which 
underlies  and  gives  life  to  its  letter.  The  spirit  of  the  first 
rule  may  be  called  universal,  because  it  consists  essentially  in 
the  simple  reverence  for  truth,  as  truth.  That  rule  implies 
that  there  is  no  fact  or  circumstance  which  is  so  trivial  in  it 
self  or  in  its  actual  relations,  that  it  is  not  worthy  of  the  most 
protracted  attention  which  we  are  capable  of  bestowing  upon 
it ;  and  that  our  inability  to  trace  its  influence  to  an  indefinite 
extent  in  every  direction,  is  solely  owing  to  our  want  of  such 
a  microscopic  acuteness  and  such  a  telescopic  range  of  intel 
lectual  vision,  as  the  just  appreciation  of  nature  requires. 
Facts  which  might  otherwise  be  regarded  as  isolated  and  un 
important,  are  thus  by  a  sort  of  natural  faith  presumed,  apart 
from  the  evidence  of  perception,  to  be  essential  constituents 
in  one  great  scheme  of  universal  truth,  even  before  this 
scheme  may  be  distinctly  realized  as  a  beneficent  instrumen 
tality,  by  which  the  God  of  nature  and  of  grace  is  ever  work 
ing  out  his  own  glory  and  the  happiness  of  his  obedient  chil 
dren.  This  rule  may  therefore  be  said  to  be  based  on  an 
acknowledgment  of  that  "  first  and  great  commandment"  of 
love  to  God,  as  the  others  may  upon  that  of  "  the  second,"  or 
love  to  our  fellow-man.  When  the  one  shall  indeed  become 
in  every  sense  universal,  the  others  will  doubtless  become 
superfluous,  and  therefore  obsolete ;  as  is  certified  by  the 
strong  public  sentiment  which  already  stamps  personalities  as 
being  irrelevant  in  all  kinds  of  useful  discussion.  Since, 
therefore,  with  the  increased  prevalence  of  the  rule  which  has 


RULES    OF  NATIONAL    CONVERSATION.         135 

been  styled  Universal,  those  which  have  been  styled  Condi 
tional  must  become  still  more  exceptional,  these  designations 
may  perhaps  be  seen  so  to  illustrate  one  another,  as  to  show 
that  the  distinction  must  be  recognized  as  an  experimental 
fact. 

Particular  Remarks.  (A.)  Of  course  there  are  difficul 
ties  in  adopting  this  rule,  not  only  from  the  diversity  of  views 
and  suggestions  which  may  arise  in  the  minds  of  different 
persons  in  the  same  company  on  the  same  occasion,  but  also 
on  account  of  the  hesitancy  which  any  individual  may  feel  in 
selecting  as  most  worthy  of  remark,  from  among  the  throng 
of  suggestions  which  may  arise  in  his  own  mind,  that  which 
is  most  naturally  or  closely  and  evidently  connected  with  the 
particular  matter  which  may  be  at  the  moment  under  con 
sideration.  Both  of  these  circumstances  obviously  tend  to 
prevent  the  co-operation  of  thought  and  feeling  in  the  de 
velopment  of  intellectual  or  spiritual  fruit,  and  to  make  our 
spoken  converse  an  unnatural  and  unavailable  medley  of  dis 
united  and  undigested  details.  These  difficulties,  however, 
it  should  be  observed,  may  be  said  to  be  the  very  occasion 
for  our  requiring  any  rules  at  all  on  the  subject,  as  being  the 
main  obstacles  which  occur  in  this  field  of  operation,  to  the 
maintenance  of  that  divine  and  diffusive  harmony  which  is 
both  the  surest  means  and  the  worthiest  end  of  all  social  aspi 
rations.  The  rule  therefore  will  be  plainly  entitled  to  our  re 
spect,  so  long  as  it  may  appear  to  be  the  best  means  by  which 
these  obstacles  are  kept  in  view,  for  the  sake  of  enabling  us,  so 
far  as  may  be  possible,  to  avoid  them.  The  following  of  the 
letter  may  not  ensure  the  fulfillment  of  the  rule,  but  the  faith 
ful  following  of  the  spirit  does  ensure  that  fulfilling  of  the 
spirit,  which  most  contributes  to  present  success  and  best 
qualifies  for  future  progress.  To  obtain  the  benefit  of  the 
rule,  therefore,  we  have  only  to  follow  the  spirit  as  expressed 
by  the  letter,  so  far  as  it  may  suggest  to  our  minds  any  intel 
ligible  and  feasible  applications. 
12  # 


136         RULES    OF  RATIONAL    CONVERSATION. 

One  obvious  suggestion  which  thus  becomes  binding  in  this 
rule  is,  the  right  of  every  member  of  a  social  gathering  to 
throw  into  the  common  stock  of  entertainment,  such  views  or 
illustrations  of  the  matter  under  their  joint  consideration  as 
his  own  sense  of  duty  may  demand  from  him.  This  privi 
lege  results  from  the  simple  fact  of  an  abstract  equality  which 
is  to  be  presumed  in  the  rights  of  all  who  may  recognize  one 
another  as  companions  ;  and,  if  cherished  as  a  piece  of  duty, 
will  of  course  not  be  exercised  in  violation  of  social  order: 
that  is,  not  until  others  of  the  company,  such  as  there  gen 
erally  are,  who  may  be  presumed  to  be  more  fully  qualified 
for  judging  or  explaining  the  matter,  shall  have  had  the  op 
portunity  of  anticipating  his  remarks. — Another  such  sugges 
tion,  which  seems  immediately  to  flow  from  this,  is  the  right 
and  duty  of  any  one  to  recur  to  a  previous  subject  of  conver 
sation  upon  which  he  may  have  been  prevented  from  speaking 
through  deference  to  this  principle  of  social  order,  but  without 
in  the  mean  time  finding  himself  relieved  from  the  obligation 
of  utterance,  either  through  an  anticipation  by  others  of  his 
intended  meaning,  or  by  their  incidentally  convincing  him  of 
the  inaccuracy  or  irrelevancy  of  his  view.  It  may  be  observed 
indeed  that  the  progress  of  any  conversation  necessarily  im 
plies  an  apparent  change  of  the  immediate  subject,  whether 
this  changeful  appearance  may  consist  in  the  desultory  re 
hearsal  of  facts  and  fancies  without  regard  to  their  inherent 
or  presumed  connection,  or  in  the  more  thoughtful  movement 
among  the  minor  details  which  may  relate  to  an  engrossing 
central  theme  :  and  the  return  from  a  hasty  diversion  or  re 
mote  illustration  will  therefore  of  course  necessitate  a  real 
or  seeming  change  of  subject  which  will  be  more  or  less 
abrupt  in  proportion  as  the  previous  departure  has  been  ab 
rupt  and  protracted.  But,  under  the  circumstances  supposed, 
the  speaker  will  evidently  not  be  responsible  for  this  irregu 
larity,  if  he  shall  have  been  only  careful  to  avail  himself  of 
the  first  fair  opportunity  for  delivering  his  sentiment. 

Another  suggestion,  which  is  furnished  rather  by  the  spirit 


RULES    OF  RATIONAL    CONVERSATION.         137 

than  by  the  letter  of  this  rule,  is,  that  where  one  topic  of 
conversation  appears  to  be  exhausted  (which  indeed  must 
ever  be  only  an  appearing),  from  the  general  absence  of  dis 
position  or  material  for  comment  on  the  part  of  all  who  may 
be  together  on  the  occasion,  a  new  subject  of  remark  may  be 
introduced  by  any  individual  under  a  deliberate  conviction  of 
its  inherent  propriety,  and  with  due  reference  to  the  principle 
of  priority  already  mentioned  as  a  part  of  social  order.  In 
providing  for  the  preservation  of  harmonious  conversation,  it 
is  of  course  necessary  that  the  supply  of  appropriate  subject 
matter  shall  not  be  interrupted,  and  the  obtrusion  of  that 
which  is  inappropriate  therefore  indirectly  invited,  by  any  of 
our  rules  :  and  such  results  might  evidently  ensue  from  a  tena 
cious  regard  for  the  mere  letter  of  that  now  remarked  upon. 

(B.)  The  two  principal  and  most  obvious  reasons  for  this 
rule,  perhaps  are,  First;  That  it  is  always  impossible  for  one 
person  to  know  from  any  appreciable  appearances,  the  motives 
of  another  in  any  action,  since  they  depend  mainly  upon  the 
condition  of  his  heart,  which  is  apparent  only  to  the  Supreme 
Judge  of  the  world,  and  not  upon  his  visible  or  other  physical 
circumstances,  which  only  are  known,  and  that  but  imperfectly 
to  his  fellow-men  :  and  Second  ;  That  such  knowledge,  were 
it  possible,  would  be  always  irrelevant,  inasmuch  as  our  deal 
ings  with  other  men  must  be  regulated  by  the  extrinsic  cha 
racter  or  current  value  of  their  performances.  It  is  worthy 
of  remark,  however,  that  one's  natural  endowments  and  de 
ficiencies,  and  even  those  intellectual  attainments  and  pecu 
liarities  which  are  the  results  of  the  culture  and  the  custom 
which  may  each  alike  be  styled  a  "  second  nature,"  are  justly 
distinguishable  from  those  governing  dispositions  and  impulses 
which  spring  immediately  from  the  recesses  of  the  heart,  and 
which  alone  are  truly  characteristic  of  the  person  as  a  re 
sponsible  being.  The  one  class  of  facts  may  therefore  be 
regarded  as  legitimate  materials  for  conversation  and  inquiry, 
while  the  other  must  remain  a  sort  of  forbidden  fruit  which 


138         RULES    OF  RATIONAL    CONVERSATION. 

we  cannot  reach  if  we  would,  and  could  not  use  if  we  could 
pluck  it. 

(C.)  If  the  preceding  rules  may  be  regarded  as  intelligible 
and  useful,  this,  in  conclusion,  may  be  found  almost  to  explain 
itself.  If,  as  has  just  been  intimated,  a  mistaken  opinion  or 
an  habitual  prejudice  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  vice  of  the 
will,  being  rather  the  passive  material  or  instrument,  than  the 
very  power,  of  the  determining  motive,  the  formal  breach  of 
social  order  here  contemplated  may  obviously  admit  of  justi 
fication  on  this  ground.  And  what  can  be  more  truly  sug 
gestive  and  profitable  to  all  parties,  than  the  frank  and  timely, 
and  yet  unobtrusive  and  unintentional  revelation  of  one's  own 
infirmities  and  extravagances  which  is  thus  induced?  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  formal  transgression  shall  prove  to  have 
actually  resulted  from  a  present  fault  of  unwatchfulness  in 
the  speaker,  the  formal  error  becomes  obviously  more  or  less 
of  a  willful  one,  and,  as  such,  is  a  proper  subject  for  repent 
ance  and  condemnation  on  the  part  of  the  transgressor.  A 
just  appreciation  of  the  two  other  rules  which  have  now  been 
considered,  will  therefore  require  him  to  give  utterance  to  such 
condemnation  ;  while  a  becoming  sense  of  humiliation,  sec 
onded  by  the  same  formal  injunctions,  may  well  prevent  him 
from  presuming  to  entertain  or  edify  his  hearers,  with  a  pre 
cise  estimate  of  the  error  of  his  motive  or  the  condition  of  his 
heart. 

Application.  The  preceding  remarks  and  rules  are  offered 
for  the  consideration  of  those  only  who  regard  society  as  one 
of  tlleir  fields  of  individual  service.  They  are  based  upon  the 
assumption  that  the  earnest  man  seeks  for  no  recreation  or 
repose  except  that  which  is  incident  to  the  divinely  ordained 
diversification  of  duty.  As  in  every  more  limited  field  of 
action  it  is  observable  that  an  attempted  compromise  between 
rival  principles  results  chiefly  in  confusion,  so,  in  the  great 
arena  of  social  life,  be  it  called  a  field  of  labor  or  one  of 


RULES    OF  RATIONAL    CONVERSATION.         139 

strife,  we  find  the  strongest  confirmation  of  the  principle. 
There  can  be  no  rivalry  admitted  here  between  our  convic 
tions  of  duty  and  our  anticipations  of  pleasure  as  the  laws  of 
action,  but  one  of  the  two  must  be  wholly  subordinated  and 
rendered  tributary  to  the  other,  if  any  purpose  whatever  is 
steadily  pursued.  To  those  who  acquiesce  in  the  constant 
supremacy  of  the  law  of  clutv,  however  imperfectly  or  indi 
rectly  it  may  be  revealed,  the  business  of  all  life  becomes  but  a 
varied  work  and  a  varied  worship  ;  and  among  such  the  work 
of  society  is  a  true  co-ordination  and  consummation  of  that  of 
individuals,  so  that  the  "fruits  of  the  Spirit"  declare  them 
selves  with  all  the  emphasis  of  an  united  experience,  in 
41  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  peace  on  earth,  and  good-will 
to  men." 

It  must  be  particularly  observed  that  the  proposed  rules  of 
conversation  prescribe  no  mode  of  settling  the  question  of 
personal  precedence,  which  they  necessarily  assume  as  a  ques 
tion  ever  pending,  and  the  decision  of  which  depends  upon 
the  relative  weight  of  personal  character.  Silence  upon  such 
a  subject  may,  however,  be  more  expressive  than  speech,  since 
it  cannot  be  held  up  as  a  subject  of  sufficient  importance  either 
for  thought  or  for  speech,  except  in  so  far  as  the  title  to  such 
authority  is  indisputably  displayed  in  the  outward  demonstra 
tion,  through  the  obedience  of  faiih  and  the  growth  of  refine 
ment,  of  the  abstract  power  and  progressive  order  of  universal 
truth.  This  effective  obedience,  so  far  as  it  shall  prevail,  will 
beget  an  unvarying  harmony  and  a  practical  equality,  in  which 
it  may  be  fitly  said,  that  all  will  rule  and  all  will  serve.  Even 
an  established  preponderance,  which  may  not  amount  to  an 
entire  prevalence,  of  this  perfect  loyalty  in  any  branch  of 
society,  will  constitute  the  condition  of  corporate  freedom  in 
which  the  laws  are  the  most  obvious  and  the  most  honored 
rulers,  under  the  immediate  influences  of  Heavenly  Love  ; 
for  this  established  recognition  of  abstract  principles  of  right 
which  are  universally  appreciable,  will  become  then  a  court 
of  appeal  by  which  all  the  breaches  of  social  harmony  may 


140         PULES    OF  RATIONAL    CONVERSATION. 

be  both  promptly  and  finally  decided  upon.  As  the  recog 
nized  principles  are  in  very  deed  the  offspring  of  truth,  they 
will  bear  witness  to  their  parentage,  by  being  few,  simple, 
mutually  illustrative,  and  mutually  confirmative.  Thus  will 
they  be  open  tc  the  apprehension  and  application  of  all,  being 
ever  ready  to  nid  the  lover  of  truth  in  advancing  the  glory  of 
the  God  of  truth,  by  stifling  the  germs  of  slothful  confusion, 
by  exposing  the  pretensions  of  spurious  dignity,  and  by  silenc 
ing  the  clamor  of  hasty  conceit. 


LAW. 


"  BY  what  constraint  shall  we  invoke  thee, 

Thou  who  withholdest  fools  from  error  ? 
What  happy  summons  first  awoke  thee, 
And  bade  thee  spread  thy  wholesome  terror  / 

"  Oh,  rouse  thee  from  thy  lair  of  mystery, 

And  make  the  world  a  home  of  gladness ! 
Let  not  the  page  of  human  history 
Be  evermore  a  roll  of  sadness  !"* 

— Know,  mortals  !  I  am  but  a  phantom. 

Look  not  to  me  for  beds  of  roses  ! 
My  rule  were  a  chaotic  random, 

Had  not  each  utterance  its  Moses. 

My  origin  is  aye  among  you  : 

Not  mainly  from  the  might  of  princes, 
Nor  from  the  strains  your  seers  have  sung  you. 

Your  law  salutes  you,  and  convinces. 

'Tis  not  the  ballot  of  the  voter  : 

'Tis  not  the  dogma  of  the  student : 
Than  all  by  far  an  abler  motor 

Is  the  example  of  the  prudent. 

One  Ruler  governs  all  your  nations  : 

His  secret  is  with  those  that  fear  Him, 
Who  welcome  all  his  dispensations, 

And  live  in  firm  allegiance  near  Him. 

Like  them  rule  ye  each  erring  neighbor, 

Unwillingly,  if  not  in  blindness  ! 
Spread  with  your  hands  the  law  of  labor ! 

Drop  from  your  lips  the  law  of  kindness  ! 

•  "  And  lo  !  a  roll  of  a  book  .  .  .  And  there  was  written  therein  lamentations,  and  irourc- 
ing  and  woe." — EZEK.  ii.  9,  10. 

141 


UNANIMOUS  SUFFRAGE. 


"  Let  me  fall  tiow  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  .  .  .  but  let  me  not  fall  into 
the  hand  of  man."— i  CHRON.  xxi.  13. 

"  Let  the  potsherd  strive  with  the  potsherds  of  the  earth."— ISA.  xlv.  9. 

"  If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall 
ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." — MATT. 
xviii.  19. 

FOR  thousands  of  years  the  Sword  has  been  the  idol  of 
nations,  the  "forlorn  hope"  of  righteous  rulers,  and  the 
ultima  ratio,  the  "last  argument"  of  bewildered  lawgivers. 
Within  a  few  centuries  a  mighty  competitor  for  its  influence 
has  been  revealed  to  the  world,  in  the  outspoken  claim  of 
Majorities.  The  two  modes  of  appeal  are  practically  alike 
in  so  far  as  numbers  may  determine  their  decision,  and  also 
in  so  far  as  this  more  accidental  indication  may  be  overborne 
by  the  superior  prowess,  physically  or  intellectually,  of  supe 
rior  men.  But  the  voice  of  majorities  is  doubtless  upon  the 
whole  the  preferable  rule,  inasmuch  as  it  is  evidently  based 
more  upon  permanent  principles,  and  less  upon  passing  phe 
nomena.  As  regards  eternal  destiny  all  men  are  certainly 
born  potentially  '•  fiee"  and  actually  "  equal,"  the  Universal 
Father  being  "  no  respecter  of  persons  ;"  and  with  nations,  as 
with  individuals,  the  most  stable  policy  must  clearly  be  that 
which  subordinates  the  physical  life  to  the  spiritual.  The 
recognized  claim  of  majorities,  being  based  upon  the  pre 
sumption  of  equality,  is  evidently  an  advance  in  the  right 
direction,  or  toward  the  standard  of  spiritual  perfection, 
in  this  imperfect  world,  however,  there  is  always  some 

142 


UNANIMOUS   SUFFRAGE.  H3 

danger  of  our  carrying  our  ideal  presumptions  of  perfection 
into  practical  extravagance.  So  long  as  either  the  sword  or 
the  ballot-box  shall  be  to  any  extent  necessary  as  an  instru 
ment  of  decision,  it  is  evident  that  there  must  be  some  who 
are  more  fit  to  be  governed  than  to  govern,  and  who  are 
therefore  examples  of  a  practical  inequality.  Apart  from  the 
consideration  that  by  insisting  upon  the  participation  of  such 
in  the  ceremonials  of  sovereignty  we  should  weakly  exagger 
ate  the  abstraction  of  equality  and  disparage  that  of  freedom,  it 
is  note-worthy  that  we  should  thus  inferentially  ignore  the  doc 
trine,  that  man's  first  business  in  time  is  rather  to  serve  than 
to  rule.  We  should  even  practically  impede  the  work  of 
those  who  are  indeed  the  public  servants,  since  either  the  in 
competent  fighter  or  the  incompetent  voter  must  still  farther 
impair  his  individual  and  social  efficiency  by  his  misplaced 
action. 

The  subordination  of  might  to  right  is  still  to  be  the  lesson 
of  history.  A  healthy  development  of  public  opinion  will 
yet,  it  may  be  hoped,  supplant  and  substitute  both  sword  and 
ballot  as  the  swift  terror  to  evil  doers,  and  the  sufficient  praise 
to  them  that  do  well.*  u  Be  of  one  mind,"  is  the  command 
which  may  be  called  the  corner-stone  of  Christian  govern 
ment.  To  be  of  at  least  two  minds,  may  be  said  to  be  an 
essential  requirement  of  our  now  prevailing  political  systems. 
The  once  mysterious  relations  of  Jew  and  Gentile  may  be  re 
garded  as  typical  of  the  isolating  and  conflicting  interests  of 
the  fallen  nature  in  every  age.  The  holy  "Captain  of  Salva 
tion  "  lived,  and  died,  and  rose  again,  "that  he  might  recon 
cile  both  unto  God  in  one  body  by  the  cross,  having  slain  the 
enmity  thereby."  The  true  soldier  of  the  cross  will  always 
vote  in  practical  influence  ;  and  he  will  never  vote  in  vain, 
because,  instead  of  feeding  the  external  evil  by  a  direct  oppo 
sition,  he  will  starve  it,  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  by  crucify 
ing  the  internal  evil.  The  measurement  of  might,  either  by 
arms  or  by  numbers,  cannot  be  the  rule  of  right  to  one  who 

*  ROM.  xiii.  3  ;  i  PET.  ii.  14. 
13  K 


144  UNANIMOUS   SUFFRAGE. 

holds  that  the  government  of  heaven,  though  not  indeed  of 
the  world,  is  ever  in  the  world,  as  well  as  above  the  world. 
Neither  contests  nor  confederations  based  upon  mere  worldly 
policy,  can  result  in  anything  better  than  Babel-confusion, 
that  being  ever  but  a  merely  formal,  if  not  a  counterfeit  zeal 
or  unanimity,  which  is  not  immediately  and  individually  de 
rived  from  faith  in  the  Divine  Power,  or  from  a  resulting  in 
sight  into  the  Divine  Will. 


POLITICS. 


K  people  live  in  a  world  of  their  own ; 
Some  live  in  their  surroundings  ; 
And  some,  I  ween,  hold  a  worthier  throne 
With  no  provincial  boundings. 

To  all  their  life  is  a  spending  of  force, 

For  objects  whole  or  hollow  ; 
In  all,  the  outlay  expresses  some  source 

From  which  such  fruits  may  follow. 

The  throne  that  rules  the  unbroken  extent 

Of  human  works  and  pleasures, 
From  large  resources  its  prowess  will  vent 

In  many  ways  and  measures. 

The  scattered  thrones  of  sectarian  name 

And  wasting  emulation, 
With  sudden  impact  and  perishing  fame 

Betray  their  slight  foundation. 

'•  We  stand  united,  divided  we  fall," 

The  old,  familiar  presage, 
Still  hints  its  terrible  warning  to  all, 
And  spirit-stirring  message. 

But  let  us  join  on  a  tenable  ground, 

Not  in  an  empty  seemiijg, 
Standing  from  every  constriction  unbound 

Which  tells  of  selfish  scheming. 

Then  private  duty  may  furnish  the  force, 

In  harmony  divided, 
By  whose  advance  in  its  gathering  course 

Both  Church  and  State  are  guided. 

145 


THE   LAST   HERESY. 


"  Certainly  there  be  those  that  delight  in  giddiness,  and  account  it  a  bond 
age  to  fix  a  belief."— BACON. 

NEITHER  orthodoxy  nor  heresy  is  anything,  if  it  be  not 
practical.  Truth  is  the  law  as  well  as  the  lawful  object 
of  life,  and  doctrine  is  valuable  only  as  the  reflection  of  truth. 
Short  of  that  universality  of  truth  which  is  the  ultimate  test 
of  practical  orthodoxy,  and  in  which  all  mysteries,  distinctions 
and  peculiarities  are  either  eradicated  or  harmonized,  all  doc 
trine  must  have  its  subjective  shortcoming,  which  can  only 
await  the  development  of  events  to  become,  and  to  be  mani 
fested  as,  practical  heresy.  While  the  subjective  wisdom  of 
one  generation  after  another  becomes  incorporated  in  objective 
knowledge,  the  essential  condition  and  congenital  tendencies 
of  human  nature  remain  unchanged.  The  mysterious  pro 
gress  of  partial  doctrine  toward  universal  truth  is  undoubtedly 
a  collective  as  well  as  an  individual  work  ;  but  the  responsi 
bilities  of  individuals  increase  therein  with  their  increasing 
advantages.  "  The  light,"  said  that  genuine  seer  and  faithful 
standard-bearer  of  gospel-truth,  Isaac  Pennington,  "  shineth 
more  and  more  toward  the  perfect  day ;  and  it  is  not  the 
owning  of  the  light  as  it  shone  in  the  foregoing  ages  which 
will  now  commend  any  man  to  God,  but  the  owning  and 
subjecting  to  the  light  of  the  present  age."  The  pertinacious 
profession  of  the  light  as  it  shone  in  the  last  age,  may  be  the 
subtlest  form  of  practical  heresy. 

It  must  be  painfully  evident  to  all  who  are  indeed  concerned 
to  "stand  in  the  ways  and  ask  for  the  old  paths"  in  order 
146 


THE  LAST  HERESY.  147 

that  they  may  "  see"  their  essential  features,  and  truly  "  walk 
therein,"  *  that  the  great  adversary  of  souls  has  in  our  day  re 
sorted  to  what  may  be  regarded  as  his  last  and  most  danger 
ous  stratagem.  By  inducing  a  theoretical  denial  or  actual 
forgetfulness  of  his  own  existence,  he  is  making  men  blind, 
in  their  hour  of  outward  security,  to  the  essential  nature  of 
evil,  removing  as  it  were  the  oldest  and  most  serviceable  way- 
marks,  and  plausibly  insinuating  that  human  life  is  a  diver 
sified  culture  rather  than  a  battle  of  doubtful  issue,  or  that, 
in  the  language  of  a  current  proverb,  "  all  roads  lead  to  the 
Great  City."  If  each  of  his  victims  will  only  contribute  some 
thing  to  the  recognition  of  this  culminating  heresy,  he  doubt 
less  cares  little  how  inconsistently  orthodox  they  may  be  in 
other  respects. 

The  religion  of  Christ  is  the  religion  of  the  charity  which 
"  thinketh  no  evil"  of  its  neighbor.  Christian  charity,  by  re 
membering  the  infirmity  of  nature,  can  ever  impute  the  short 
coming  and  transgression  of  a  neighbor  to  ignorance  and 
unwatchfulness  on  his  part.  While  condemning  the  error  or 
the  deed,  it  will  pity  the  subject  or  the  agent.  Sensitive  to 
sin,  it  will  impute  the  commission  to  the  father  of  sin,  rather 
than  to  the  agent  in  whom  its  manifestation  may  have  been, 
for  anything  which  generally  appears  at  any  particular  time, 
a  mere  omission.  The  greater  the  cunning  or  the  malice 
which  may  be  manifested  in  any  individual  or  collective  of 
fence,  the  more  readily  it  will  trace  the  baleful  appearance 
to  a  contrivance  and  cruelty  which  are  at  once  infernal  and 
superhuman.  Living  and  walking  u  in  the  spirit,"  it  can  ever 
find  a  way  to  "  resist  the  Devil,"  f  without  murmuring  at  the 
formal  evil,  which  Christians  are  indeed  commanded  \  not  to 
resist,  and  with  which  they  cannot  stoop  to  contend,  without 
breaking  the  harmony  of  their  lives.  Like  their  divine  Mas 
ter,  they  feel  that  they  are  sent  to  call  sinners  to  repentance, 
and  like  Him  they  are  therefore  content  that  the  tares  shall 
be  mingled  with  the  wheat,  until  the  great  harvest-day,  when. 

*  JER.  vi.  1 6.  t  JAM.  iv.  7.  \  MATT.  v.  39. 

13* 


1 48  THE   LAST  HERESY. 

through  the  divine  blessing  on  their  labors,  the  wiles  of  the 
"enemy"  who  "hath  done  this"  shall  be  fully  and  finally 
exposed. 

The  only  excuse  which  any  body  of  men  can  have  for 
establishing  themselves,  or  for  professing  themselves  to  be 
established,  as  the  custodians  of  a  particular  form  of  religious 
belief,  lies  in  the  presumption  that  that  form  is  superior  to  all 
others,  and  in  a  consequent  willingness  and  gladness,  if  they 
be  not  like  the  Israelites  a  professedly  exclusive  sect,  to  have 
their  standard  of  truth  brought,  at  once  most  closely  and  most 
publicly,  into  comparison  with  all  other  standards.  This  is 
the  very  work  by  which  all  may  most  effectually  "resist  the 
Devil,"  a  work  which  is  capable  of  enlisting  all  the  powers 
of  their  being,  and  which  the  Devil,  so  surely  as  there  is  such 
an  entity,  strives  most  anxiously,  as  a  hater  of  light,  to  repress. 
We  have  a  memorable  illustration  of  the  neglect  of  this  work 
in  the  early  annals  of  one  of  our  chief  American  cities.  We 
may  trust  that  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans  are  preparing 
to  abandon  the  theological  libertinism  which  was  the  natural 
result  of  their  former  ecclesiastical  fastidiousness ;  and  the 
descendants  of  the  Quakers  may  well  profit  by  the  warning 
of  their  example,  whenever  tempted  to  disparage  the  views 
and  to  repulse  the  friendly  overtures  of  others,  either  by  sitting 
in  judgment  on  their  motives,  or  by  alike  disregarding  their 
motives  and  their  arguments.  The  Day  of  days  will,  we 
may  hope,  not  then  overtake  us  "  as  a  thief  in  the  night." 


ONE, 


34  WHERE  shall  I  join,  and  where  divide  ?" — 

Such  query  greets  the  mental  ear 
Full  oft,  of  him  who  would  decide 
His  doubtful  steps  by  truth  severe  :  — 

"  Such  kind  relations  God  hath  made, 

In  things  with  life  and  things  without, 
To  bless  the  soul  whose  course  is  laid 
Always  by  Wisdom's  secret  route  ; 

"  Such  harsh  exceptions  doth  ordain, 
To  cheat,  in  circumstances  same, 
The  eager  grasp  which  else  would  gain 
That  wisdom-fruit  in  folly's  name  ; 

"  With  such  diversity  perplexed, 

In  all  my  plans  and  all  my  dreams, 
How  shall  I  win  the  prize  annexed 
To  truthful  life  and  truthful  schemes  ?" 

Find,  anxious  soul !  thyself  within, 

The  true  diversity  and  strife  : 
Fight  ever  there  the  king  of  sin 

With  armor  of  the  King  of  Life. 

There  seek  the  pulse  of  harmony 

Which  nurses  health,  and  strength,  and  joy ; 
There  shun  the  jarring  mockery 

Which  animates  but  to  annoy. 

So  mayst  thou  ever  learn  to  sing 

The  universal  bridal  song, 
"There's  unity  in  everything, 

Except  between  the  right  and  wrong." 

149 


THE   REALIZATION   OF  REST. 


.     "  They  entered  not  in,  because  of  unbelief." — HEB.  iv.  6. 

THE  right  or  privilege  of  rest,  even  in  this  world,  implies 
both  the  duty  and  the  power  of  rest.  As  in  every 
other  item  of  man's  probational  experience,  a  trinity  of  prin 
ciples  is  here  traceable.  The  austere  extreme  of  duty  is  con 
nected  with  the  genial  and  otherwise  relaxing  one  of  pleasure 
by  the  efficient  mean  of  power.  The  thing  is  simpler  than 
the  expression  ;  but  the  expression,  if  at  all  intelligible,  is 
worthy  of  attention  on  account  of  its  extended  applicability. 
The  very  same  fusion  of  duty,  right,  and  power  is  equally 
observable  everi  in  the  seemingly  antipodal  subject  of  labor. 
Only  when  labor  and  rest  shall  become  indistinguishable  by 
the  completion  of  the  probational  life,  can  this  trinity,  with 
every  other,  be  lost  in  the  fulfillment  of  an  ideal  unity. 

Realization,  being  simply  the  conversion  of  the  possible 
into  the  actual,  is  only  limited,  in  things  possible,  by  the 
limitation  of  human  faith  in  the  wisdom  of  God.  However 
the  partial  prevalence  of  evil  may  bound  or  qualify  our  con 
ception  of  the  omnipotence  of  God,  all  experience  testifies 
both  that  he  is  omniscient,  and  that  his  power  is  not  only 
supreme  over  all  his  own  undoubted  works,  but  that  it  is, 
historically  at  least,  a  progressive  power.  Where  the  reali 
zation,  even  by  faith,  of  the  presence  and  guidance  of  such  a 
Being  is  possible,  premeditation  on  the  part  of  fallible  man  is 
obvious  insolence.  Whatever  be  the  task  of  any  who  can  be 
said  to  have  any  remaining  capacity  for  service,  "  that  which 
150 


THE   REALIZATION   OF  REST.  15) 

may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  in  them,"  and  becomes  at 
once  their  law  of  labor  and  their  hope  of  rest.  This  is  the 
true  Gospel  (Rom.  i.  16,  17)  wherein,  as  it  is  accepted  and 
adhered  to,  "the  righteousness  of  God,"  Christ  within,  "the 
hope  of  glory"  (i  Cor.  i.  30;  Col.  i.  27)  is  "revealed  from 
faith  to  faith."  The  perfect  realization  of  rest  by  all  men,  is 
thus  simply  conditioned  upon  their  so  making  their  wills  a 
part  of  the  divine  will,  as  that  their  work  shall  become  a  part 
of  the  divine  work,  and  their  whole  life  a  part  of  the  divine 
harmony.  The  extravagances  of  false  metaphysics,  to  which 
all  prevailing  discords  and  hardships  are,  openly  or  secretly, 
directly  traceable  (Prov.  xxi.  2),  are  themselves  secondary 
and  not  primary  uvils,  being  consequential,  not  causative,  to 
the  pride  of  self-will,  and  the  want  of  heart-belief. 


MUSIC. 


FROM  order,  the  first  law  of  nature,* 

And  measure,  the  mother  of  art, 
Springs  the  statute  of  life-legislature. 

That  music  in  life  shall  have  part. 

Thus,  music's  a  current  compelling 

As  gently  possessed  in  its  source ; 
Or,  as  ocean  ward  leaping  and  swell' r.g^ 

It  channels  our  life  in  its  course. 

True  music  corrects  all  distortions, 

Disgusting,  deluding,  or  droll, 
By  supplying,  in  proper  proportions, 

The  mixture  of  senses  and  soul. 

As  life  settles  down  in  sensation, 

Things  present  and  tangible  rule, 
And  the  glories  of  inner  creation 

Recede  from  the  thought  of  the  fool. 

Let  music,  with  clamor  diluted, 

Be  poured  in  his  wondering  ear, 
And  the  cure  to  the  case  may  be  suited, 

And  Orphic  enchantments  appear. 

As  rises  the  soul  in  dominion 

O'er  art,  and  o'er  nature  as  curst, 
It  will  hardly  depress  its  free  pinion 

So  basely  to  quench  its  pure  thirst. 

For  music  remains,  in  its  essence, 

The  concert  of  nature  and  mind, 
Which  foretokens  the  rich  coalescence 

In  heaven  reserved  for  mankind. 

*"The  one  underlying  postulate  of  all  science  is  the  harmony  of  Truth  with  itsill".' 
North  A  nterican  Review,  xcix.  404. 
152 


THE  NEW  YEAR. 


"  The  times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at ;  but  now  commandeth  all 
men  everywhere  to  repent."— ACTS  xvii.  30. 

AS  change  and  time  are  inseparable  elements  of  individual 
experience,  so  revolution  and  progress  are  allied  facts, 
by  which  the  guidance  of  Divine  Providence  is  manifested  in 
the  collective  history  of  mankind.  As  the  phenomena  of 
physical  life  are  found  to  be  maintained  only  at  the  expense 
of  a  continual  death  of  the  constituent  parts  of  living  organ 
isms,  and  as  the  lapse  of  time  itself  is  known  only  by  the 
changes  which  we  are  in  the  habit  of  imputing  to  its  agency, 
so  do  we  find  all  social  progress  to  depend  upon  gradual  but 
continual  destruction  and  reconstruction  of  outward  institu 
tions.  What  time  and  progress  and  vitality  essentially  are, 
we  need  not  expect  availingly  to  know,  until  our  eyes  may  be 
opened  to  behold  the  realities  of  eternity,  as  our  feet  become 
planted  upon  the  immutable  foundation,  which,  through  the 
mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  has  been  laid  in  Zion,  as  a 
refuge  from  the  fatal  ravages  of  sin.  When  the  last  times 
shall  indeed  have  passed  over  us,  and  the  company  of  the 
redeemed  shall  realize  that "  as  in  Adam  all  died,  so  in  Christ 
all  are  made  alive,"  the  earth  will  doubtless  be  released  from 
the  participation  in  its  master's  curse,  which  has  been  expressly 
recorded  for  our  instruction.  Without  vainly  undertaking  to 
speculate  upon  the  crowning  changes,  physical  and  spiritual, 
which  will  usher  in  that  Divine  order  of  things,  we  may  safely 
assume  that  revolution  and  progress,  if  they  shall  then  survive, 
will  be  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  working  and  expression 

153 


154  THE  NEW   TEAR. 

of  an  un  wast  ing  and  ever  expanding  state  of  perfection.  The 
curtain  of  futurity  will  then,  indeed,  be  withdrawn,  and  a  new 
era  of  everlasting  happiness  dawn  upon  all  who  shall  have 
walked  by  the  true  faith,  and  held  fast  the  true  hope,  and 
pursued  the  true  love  through  the  darkness,  and  dangers,  and 
conflicts  of  time. 

This  great  revolution  is  certainly  the  one  event  which  'e- 
mands  our  constant  attention  over  and  through  all  particular 
changes,  being  that  to  which  they  are  all  tributary  as  parts  of 
a  whole.  Such  particular  changes,  therefore,  as  are  obviously 
typical  of  that  general  one,  become  especially  interesting  to 
us  as  natural  mementoes  of  that  of  which  we  have  but  too 
much  need  to  be  reminded.  The  rotation  of  the  seasons  is  an 
impressive  emblem  of  the  ever  moving,  and  yet  ever  restricted 
and  ever  recurring  variety  of  human  experience,  as  developed 
in  the  history,  either  of  individual  or  of  social  life.  The  era, 
therefore,  arbitrary  as  it  must  be,  at  which  we  agree  for  the 
sake  of  uniformity  to  compute  that  a  new  year  has  commenced 
its  course,  is  one  full  of  profitable  suggestion  to  the  reflective 
mind.  As  accountable  and  fallible  beings,  we  then  seem  to 
be  especially  called  upon  to  review  and  correct  our  accounts, 
in  anticipation  of  that  final  settlement,  at  which  "  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth"  will  preside,  and  to  which  all  nations  and 
generations  of  men  will  be  witnesses. 

The  contemplation  of  that  awfully  grand  and  surely  im 
pending  event,  is  well  fitted  to  impress  us  all  deeply  with  the 
conviction  that  our  destination,  like  our  origin,  is,  so  far,  one. 
In  the  blindness  of  self-conceit,  and  in  the  distracting  idolatry 
of  diverse  lusts,  we  are  indeed  prone  to  forget  the  filial  and 
fraternal  ties  of  duty,  and  to  seek  to  carve  out  a  career  of 
individual  independence,  even  "  as  gods,  knowing  good  and 
evil"  for  ourselves,  and  using  the  gifts  of  creation  as  in  our 
own  right,  and  for  the  purpose  of  private  pleasure,  profit,  or 
glory.  Hence  alienations,  divisions,  discords,  and  at  last  open 
fightings,  inevitably  ensue.  The  charity,  or  love,  which  "be 
gins  at  home,"  and  which  is  born  of  faith,  and  nourished  by 


THE   NEW   YEAR.  155 

hope,  is  the  onlv  efFectual  antidote  to  this  insinuating  and 
deceptive  poison  of  selfishness.  As  that  Divine  grace  finds 
place  in  our  hearts,  we  will  neither  seek  nor  wish  for  any 
separation  from  our  fellow-beings,  short  of  that  in  which  all 
our  differences  and  all  our  agreements  will  be  for  ever  ab 
sorbed,  when  the  "  Son  of  man"  shall  separate  the  souls  of  all 
nations,  u  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep 
from  the  goats." 

The  condition  of  a  community  being  merely  the  reflected 
aggregate  and  average  of  the  individuals  composing  it,  public 
events  may  often  be  prudently  regarded  as  the  evidence  of 
tendencies  in  private  practice  which  may  have  been  previously 
unsuspected.  In  the  confusion  which  now  so  conspicuously 
prevails  in  the  church  and  in  the  world,  can  we  not  discover 
a  warning  to  enter  into  the  closet  of  our  own  hearts,  and 
examine  into  the  state  of  the  account,  by  which  we  may 
"know  our  own  selves"  by  the  aid  of  Him  who  "is  in  us, 
except  we  be  reprobates?"  Head-work  may  guide  our  hands 
into  a  plausible  conformity  with  the  labors  and  views  of  our 
fellow-men  ;  but  heart-work  alone  can  guide  both  our  heads 
and  our  hands  in  harmonious  obedience  to  the  pure  and  pro 
gressive  dictates  of  Truth.  May  the  New  Year  indeed  be 
come  the  herald  of  the  ever  new  and  Divine  order  in  which 
a  just  subordination  and  a  true  co-operation  shall  increasingly 
triumph  over  the  hostile  influence  of  confusion  and  competi 
tion,  however  speciously  these  may  be  often  disguised  as  pro 
moters  of  peace  and  prosperity  ! 

ist  Mo.  1863. 
14 


TIME   AND   ETERNITY. 


TIME'S  level  stretch  as  measured  by  the  years, 
History  scans,  and  her  memento  rears. 
Eternity  rolls  on  in  state  sublime, 
.     Although  by  men  misnamed  the  flight  of  time. 
Not  flight,  but  tarriance,  is  of  time  the  woe ; 
Not  real  progress,  but  deceitful  show, 
If  men  rise  not  eternity  to  know. 
Varied  in  vastness  with  his  mental  reach, 
Eternity  shines  through  the  life  of  each, 
Revealing  all  which  time  appears  to  teach. 
Soul  is  the  seat  of  wisdom.     To  its  Source 
Aspire  in  prayer  with  all  thy  private  force, 
Requesting  thence  to  be  instructed  how 
Years  endless  roll  in  the  ETERNAL  NOW  ! 
156 


AFTER-THOUGHT. 


"Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid." — I  COR.  iii.  n. 

"  True  philosophy  will  often  have  occasion  to  show  that  supposed  problems 
are  no  problems  at  all,  but  mere  impositions  of  the  mind  upon  itself,  arising 
out  of  its  unrectified  position — errors  grounded  upon  errors.  A  much  better 
test  of  a  sound  philosophy  than  the  number  of  pre-existing  problems  which 
it  solves,  will  be  the  quality  of  those  which  it  proposes.  By  raising  the 
station  of  the  spectator  it  will  bring  a  region  of  new  inquiry  within  his 
view ;  and  the  very  faculty  of  comprehending  these  questions  will  often 
depend  upon  the  station  from  which  they  are  viewed." — DE  QUINCEY. 

DESIRING  to  attain  to  all  possible  explicitness  of  state 
ment,  without  pretending  to  disguise  the  fragmentary 
and  too  disjointed  nature  of  his  views  of  Truth,  the  author 
cannot  conclude  his  labor  of  literary  patch-work  without  en 
deavoring  to  add  to  its  coherency,  by  anticipating  probable 
and  perhaps  plausible  objections.  He  deems  it  prudent  to 
disclaim  all  definitive  recognition  both  of  the  fundamental 
duality  of  Manes  and  of  the  fundamental  unity  of  Hegel. 
He  deems  it  alike  unnecessary  to  begin  with  the  one  by 
cutting  the  Gordian  Knot  of  the  problem  of  Evil ;  and  with 
the  other,  by  assuming  an  ambiguous  paradox  (the  identity 
of  Being  and  Nothing),  to  which  all  minor  diversities  of 
view  shall  be  systematically  subordinated.  He  would  rather 
content  himself  with  simply  forewarning  the  inexperienced 
inquirer,  of  the  danger,  ever  imminent  in  proportion  as  his 
sphere  of  knowledge  or  experience  shall  be  a  limited  one,  of 
mistaking  mere  opposition,  or  antithesis  of  view,  for  actual 
14  157 


I  5  8  AFTER-  THO  UGHT. 

contradiction,  or  incongruity  of  fact.  With  that  expansion  of 
consciousness,  which  ever  attends  the  life  of  true  feeling,  earnest 
thinking  and  faithful  working,  the  very  centre  of  conscious 
ness,  or  the  intellectual  stand-point,  is  gradually  corrected, 
so  that  views  which  at  first  seemed  wholly  antipodal  may  at 
last  be  found  to  be  really,  closely  as  well  as  harmoniously 
related.  Through  all  degrees  of  fragmentary  attainment,  it 
is  thus  evident,  subjective  truth  or  the  truth  of  individual 
perception,  can  be  no  sure  test  of  objective  truth  or  the 
truth  of  catholic  reality ;  so  that  the  most  fundamental  ques 
tions  are  most  wisely  left  undecided,  their  premature  de 
cision,  overt  or  covert,  inevitably  entailing  misapprehension 
and  discord.  Until  the  realization  of  that  life  of  perfect 
unity  in  which  the  natural  antithesis  of  matter  and  spirit* 
shall  be  found  to  have  been  a  merely  subjective  phenomenon, 
this  universal  though  individual  antithesis  must,  with  its  ac 
companying  power  of  synthesis,f  present  to  each  individual 
his  own  several  triune  law  of  work.  Like  the  unswerving 
living  and  seeing  wheels  of  the  prophet's  vision,  \  these 
laws  in  their  practical  application  and  progressive  revolution, 
will  be  incapable  of  clashing  together,  or  of  at  all  differing 
except  by  including  or  being  included  in  one  another ;  thus 
demonstrating  that  in  the  principle  of  Trinity  lies  the  largest 
law  of  probationary  Humanity — Man's  sole  refuge  from  the 
present  distractions  of  a  fallen  Duality,  and  his  sole  hope  of 
the  ultimate  realization  of  a  divine  Unity. 

*"  Twain  extremes,"  p.    159.  f  "  Centric  mean,"  p.  159. 

\  EZEK.,  ch.  i.,  &c. 


TRINITY. 


THE  mystery  of  one  and  three 

Is  that  which  meets  us  ever, 
A  lock  and  key  which  aye  agree, 

And  yield  to  wise  endeavor. 

From  twain  extremes  on  centric  mean 

In  common  cause  revolving, 
O'er  life's  dark  dreams  a  light  is  seen 

The  shades  of  doubt  dissolving. 

On  living  wheels  with  eyes  begirt 

Creation  still  is  moving : 
Through  death's  dread  seals  life  leaps  aler 

A  Maker's  might  still  proving. 

So  heaven  and  hell,  o'er-spreading  all 

The  field  of  man's  probation, 
The  doctrine  tell  of  Adam's  fall, 

And  of  the  great  salvation. 

Their  germs  pervade  all  charms  that  lure 

Our  passions  or  our  senses; 
And,  as  obeyed,  our  bliss  ensure, 

Or  punish  our  offences. 

May  all  we  see,  and  all  we  do, 

Illustrate  and  inherit 
The  knowledge  free  and  profit  true, 

Which  turn  on  God's  good  Spirit ! 

By  faith  death's  sting  alive  to  shun, 
We  then  the  grace  shall  gather 

In  every  thing*  to  know  the  Son, 
And,  through  the  Son,  the  Father. 
*  "In  him  all  things  consist."     COL.  i.  17. 


159 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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